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

Authorities continue searching for the 22-year-old University of Missouri student who was last seen by friends at a Nashville bar on March 8.

Police&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1767578348249559347">released video</a>&nbsp;Tuesday that shows Riley Strain crossing a downtown street. 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 ph oto" />
 <figcaption>Riley Strain courtesy ph oto</figcaption>
 </figure>NASHVILLE —Riley Strain's bank card was discovered Sunday afternoon on the embankment between Gay Street and the Cumberland River, according to a statement from Metro Nashville Police.Authorities continue searching for the 22-year-old University of Missouri student who was last seen by friends at a Nashville bar on March 8.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FMetroNashvillePoliceDepartment%2Fvideos%2F941179284268997%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>Police&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1767578348249559347">released video</a>&nbsp;Tuesday that shows Riley Strain crossing a downtown street. 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.”

Police: Bank card of missing Univ. of Missouri student found

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lori Shelton can't fathom ever having the money to buy a home — and that's a major reason why so many voters feel down on the economy ahead of this year's presidential election.

Shelton, 67, drives an Uber to help pay rent in Aurora, Colorado. An advance on her pay covered her apartment's security deposit. But it also cut into her next paycheck, leaving her bank account dangerously low when the rent was due — a cycle that never seems to end.

“I'm always one step behind,” said Shelton, her voice choking up. “It’s a nightmare, it’s a freaking nightmare right now.”

The United States is slogging through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-affordability-century-21-ceo-b60d7bf34139334a843f9760a976f33c">housing affordability crisis</a>&nbsp;that was decades in the making. At the root of this problem: America failed to build enough homes for its growing population. The shortage strikes at the heart of the American dream of homeownership — dampening President Joe Biden's assurances that the U.S. economy is strong and underscoring the degree to which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Republican Donald Trump</a>, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee for 2024, has largely overlooked the shortage.

The lack of housing has caused a record number of renters to devote an excessive amount of income to housing, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/affordable-housing-rent-eviction-price-harvard-congress-f5411012e10fa78d0257c137e60c1be3">Harvard University analysis</a>. Not enough homes are for sale or being built, keeping prices elevated. Average mortgage rates have more than doubled and further worsened affordability.

In fact, the Census Bureau reported that homeownership fell slightly at the end of last year in an otherwise solid economy. If it wasn’t for shelter costs, inflation — Biden’s most pronounced economic problem — would be running at a healthy and stable 1.8%. Instead, it's hovering around 3.2%.

Administration officials are confident that shelter inflation will soon cool, but the damage across several years is apparent to advocates and economists.

“I’ve been doing housing work for 30 years — the housing affordability challenge is the worst I've ever seen in my career,” said Shaun Donovan, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama years who now leads the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners.

Donovan noted that this is an increasingly bipartisan challenge that could bring the political parties together. Expensive housing was once the domain of Democratic areas such as New York City and San Francisco. It's now moved into Republican states as places such as Boise, Idaho, grapple with higher prices.

“It is a first-tier issue almost everywhere,” he said. “And that is changing the national politics around it in a way that I think is quite different than I’ve ever seen.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that the outcome of the November election could ultimately depend on the path of 30-year mortgage rates.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-530356e889579526a953e46dcd8ca7d1">Rates currently average about 6.74%.</a>&nbsp;If they dropped closer to 6%, the odds of a Biden victory would increase. But rates moving near 8% might enable Trump to prevail, Zandi said.

“Given the current housing affordability crisis, higher rates will make owning a home completely out of reach for nearly all potential first-time homebuyers,” he said. “Since homeownership is a key part of the American dream, if it appears unattainable, this will deeply impact voters’ sense of the economy.”

Biden, a Democrat, acknowledged the pain many are feeling in his State of the Union address earlier this month and in his budget proposal released on Monday.

The president wants to fund the building and preservation of 2 million housing units — a meaningful sum, but not enough to solve the shortage. He also proposed a tax credit worth up to $10,000 to homebuyers. Over the past three years, he has increased rental assistance to 100,000 households.

“The bottom line is we have to build, build, build,” Biden said Monday in a speech to the National League of Cities. “That’s how we bring down housing costs for good.”

Rapidly climbing home prices were also a festering problem under Trump, who first achieved celebrity status as a real estate developer. While president, Trump called for limiting construction in the suburbs. He claimed during the 2020 election that Biden's policies to spur building and affordability would “destroy your neighborhood.”

During the 2018 to 2020 years of Trump's presidency, the country’s housing shortage surged 52% to 3.8 million units, according to the mortgage company Freddie Mac.

The Associated Press contacted Trump's campaign for his policy plans but did not get a response. The America First Policy Institute, a think tank promoting Trump's vision, said the key is to cut government borrowing to reduce mortgage rates. The former president has pledged to reduce deficits, but an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows that his policies in office will have likely added&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/how-much-did-president-trump-add-debt">more than $8 trillion to the national debt.</a>

“The best way for us to improve access to homeownership for young people is to get interest rates back down, not to provide subsidies that cause housing unaffordability to worsen,” said Mike Faulkender, chief economist at the institute.

Lower rates might play well with voters, but most economists say they would at best offer temporary financial relief. Purchase prices would likely adjust upward in response to greater demand from falling rates.

Construction, the more enduring solution, would take years to achieve and require&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oregon-land-use-law-urban-growth-boundary-housing-d85c2413f169cd02cbf6b15fd9c95329">new rules by states and cities</a>. The administration is trying to incentivize zoning changes, but the major choices are outside the White House's control.

“Even as incomes are going up and the economy is doing well and inflation is coming down, people can’t buy homes,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at the brokerage Redfin. “That’s like the biggest problem for Biden because it’s not one that he can solve.”

The general rule of thumb is that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage. A typical household looking to buy a home would have to devote 41% of its income to mortgage payments, according to Redfin.

There are far-reaching economic risks because of this. High housing costs can lead people to cut back spending elsewhere. Advocates said it enables landlords to neglect their properties since there is always a ready tenant.

Evictions can worsen health and educational outcomes for children and exact an even wider cost on society, said Zach Neumann, a Denver-based lawyer who provides more than $30 million annually in rental assistance through the nonprofit Community Economic Defense Project.

The cumulative costs of evicting poorer renters are "$20,000 to $30,000 a year when you include shelter nights and emergency room visits,” Neumann said. “It’s really overwhelming when you think about the total numbers and these folks are fighting to have a roof over their heads.”

While there is bipartisan agreement on the need for more housing, there has yet to be a significant plan that has passed the House and Senate. Biden has proposed housing aid throughout his administration that never materialized.

“Had Congress passed some of the investments that the president has called for since the beginning of the administration, had they done that three years ago, as he was advocating, we’d have affordable units coming online right now," said Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council.

But Mark Calabria, who was director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the Trump administration, said that many of the federal tools to increase housing such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could further push up demand without adding enough construction.

“My worry would be we’ve done a number of things that increased demand when the problem is supply,” said Calabria, now an adviser with the libertarian Cato Institute.

But for renters such as Lori Shelton in Colorado, the debate about how to add housing supply is cold comfort when she owes rent now. She's previously dealt with the threat of eviction and late fees. She gets some rent money from her son, but she has also relied at times on her church to cover the $2,399 a month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lori Shelton can't fathom ever having the money to buy a home — and that's a major reason why so many voters feel down on the economy ahead of this year's presidential election.Shelton, 67, drives an Uber to help pay rent in Aurora, Colorado. An advance on her pay covered her apartment's security deposit. But it also cut into her next paycheck, leaving her bank account dangerously low when the rent was due — a cycle that never seems to end.“I'm always one step behind,” said Shelton, her voice choking up. “It’s a nightmare, it’s a freaking nightmare right now.”The United States is slogging through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-affordability-century-21-ceo-b60d7bf34139334a843f9760a976f33c">housing affordability crisis</a>&nbsp;that was decades in the making. At the root of this problem: America failed to build enough homes for its growing population. The shortage strikes at the heart of the American dream of homeownership — dampening President Joe Biden's assurances that the U.S. economy is strong and underscoring the degree to which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Republican Donald Trump</a>, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee for 2024, has largely overlooked the shortage.The lack of housing has caused a record number of renters to devote an excessive amount of income to housing, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/affordable-housing-rent-eviction-price-harvard-congress-f5411012e10fa78d0257c137e60c1be3">Harvard University analysis</a>. Not enough homes are for sale or being built, keeping prices elevated. Average mortgage rates have more than doubled and further worsened affordability.In fact, the Census Bureau reported that homeownership fell slightly at the end of last year in an otherwise solid economy. If it wasn’t for shelter costs, inflation — Biden’s most pronounced economic problem — would be running at a healthy and stable 1.8%. Instead, it's hovering around 3.2%.Administration officials are confident that shelter inflation will soon cool, but the damage across several years is apparent to advocates and economists.“I’ve been doing housing work for 30 years — the housing affordability challenge is the worst I've ever seen in my career,” said Shaun Donovan, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama years who now leads the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners.Donovan noted that this is an increasingly bipartisan challenge that could bring the political parties together. Expensive housing was once the domain of Democratic areas such as New York City and San Francisco. It's now moved into Republican states as places such as Boise, Idaho, grapple with higher prices.“It is a first-tier issue almost everywhere,” he said. “And that is changing the national politics around it in a way that I think is quite different than I’ve ever seen.”Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that the outcome of the November election could ultimately depend on the path of 30-year mortgage rates.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-530356e889579526a953e46dcd8ca7d1">Rates currently average about 6.74%.</a>&nbsp;If they dropped closer to 6%, the odds of a Biden victory would increase. But rates moving near 8% might enable Trump to prevail, Zandi said.“Given the current housing affordability crisis, higher rates will make owning a home completely out of reach for nearly all potential first-time homebuyers,” he said. “Since homeownership is a key part of the American dream, if it appears unattainable, this will deeply impact voters’ sense of the economy.”Biden, a Democrat, acknowledged the pain many are feeling in his State of the Union address earlier this month and in his budget proposal released on Monday.The president wants to fund the building and preservation of 2 million housing units — a meaningful sum, but not enough to solve the shortage. He also proposed a tax credit worth up to $10,000 to homebuyers. Over the past three years, he has increased rental assistance to 100,000 households.“The bottom line is we have to build, build, build,” Biden said Monday in a speech to the National League of Cities. “That’s how we bring down housing costs for good.”Rapidly climbing home prices were also a festering problem under Trump, who first achieved celebrity status as a real estate developer. While president, Trump called for limiting construction in the suburbs. He claimed during the 2020 election that Biden's policies to spur building and affordability would “destroy your neighborhood.”During the 2018 to 2020 years of Trump's presidency, the country’s housing shortage surged 52% to 3.8 million units, according to the mortgage company Freddie Mac.The Associated Press contacted Trump's campaign for his policy plans but did not get a response. The America First Policy Institute, a think tank promoting Trump's vision, said the key is to cut government borrowing to reduce mortgage rates. The former president has pledged to reduce deficits, but an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows that his policies in office will have likely added&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/how-much-did-president-trump-add-debt">more than $8 trillion to the national debt.</a>“The best way for us to improve access to homeownership for young people is to get interest rates back down, not to provide subsidies that cause housing unaffordability to worsen,” said Mike Faulkender, chief economist at the institute.Lower rates might play well with voters, but most economists say they would at best offer temporary financial relief. Purchase prices would likely adjust upward in response to greater demand from falling rates.Construction, the more enduring solution, would take years to achieve and require&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oregon-land-use-law-urban-growth-boundary-housing-d85c2413f169cd02cbf6b15fd9c95329">new rules by states and cities</a>. The administration is trying to incentivize zoning changes, but the major choices are outside the White House's control.“Even as incomes are going up and the economy is doing well and inflation is coming down, people can’t buy homes,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at the brokerage Redfin. “That’s like the biggest problem for Biden because it’s not one that he can solve.”The general rule of thumb is that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage. A typical household looking to buy a home would have to devote 41% of its income to mortgage payments, according to Redfin.There are far-reaching economic risks because of this. High housing costs can lead people to cut back spending elsewhere. Advocates said it enables landlords to neglect their properties since there is always a ready tenant.Evictions can worsen health and educational outcomes for children and exact an even wider cost on society, said Zach Neumann, a Denver-based lawyer who provides more than $30 million annually in rental assistance through the nonprofit Community Economic Defense Project.The cumulative costs of evicting poorer renters are "$20,000 to $30,000 a year when you include shelter nights and emergency room visits,” Neumann said. “It’s really overwhelming when you think about the total numbers and these folks are fighting to have a roof over their heads.”While there is bipartisan agreement on the need for more housing, there has yet to be a significant plan that has passed the House and Senate. Biden has proposed housing aid throughout his administration that never materialized.“Had Congress passed some of the investments that the president has called for since the beginning of the administration, had they done that three years ago, as he was advocating, we’d have affordable units coming online right now," said Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council.But Mark Calabria, who was director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the Trump administration, said that many of the federal tools to increase housing such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could further push up demand without adding enough construction.“My worry would be we’ve done a number of things that increased demand when the problem is supply,” said Calabria, now an adviser with the libertarian Cato Institute.But for renters such as Lori Shelton in Colorado, the debate about how to add housing supply is cold comfort when she owes rent now. She's previously dealt with the threat of eviction and late fees. She gets some rent money from her son, but she has also relied at times on her church to cover the $2,399 a month.

Why are so many voters frustrated by the US economy? Home prices

WICHITA, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment this week charging two men in connection with a bank robbery, according to the United State's Attorney.

According to court documents, Demond M. Johnson, 18, and Ryan D. Smith, 25, both of Houston, Texas, are charged with one count of bank robbery. The defendants are accused of robbing Credit Union of America on South Ridge Road in Wichita, Kansas, on October 17, 2023.&nbsp;

If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison.&nbsp;

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Wichita Police Department are investigating the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710446842345.png" alt="Security camera images Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Security camera images Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA, KAN. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment this week charging two men in connection with a bank robbery, according to the United State's Attorney.According to court documents, Demond M. Johnson, 18, and Ryan D. Smith, 25, both of Houston, Texas, are charged with one count of bank robbery. The defendants are accused of robbing Credit Union of America on South Ridge Road in Wichita, Kansas, on October 17, 2023.&nbsp;If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison.&nbsp;The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Wichita Police Department are investigating the case.

Teen among suspects accused in Kansas bank robbery

NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-elections-social-media-technology-4086949d878336f8ea6daa4dee725d94">disinformation</a>&nbsp;worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters.

It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/c737b8bd4d24487db64194d95ec4d5f0">teams of people</a>&nbsp;with time, technical skill and money. Now, using free and low-cost generative artificial intelligence services from companies like Google and OpenAI, anyone can create high-quality “deepfakes” with just a simple text prompt.

A wave of AI deepfakes tied to elections in Europe and Asia has coursed through social media for months, serving as a warning for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-elections-2024-preview-cb77b0940964c5c95a9affc8ebb6f0b7">more than 50 countries heading to the polls</a>&nbsp;this year.

“You don’t need to look far to see some people ... being clearly confused as to whether something is real or not,” said Henry Ajder, a leading expert in generative AI based in Cambridge, England.

The question is no longer whether AI deepfakes could affect elections, but how influential they will be, said Ajder, who runs a consulting firm called Latent Space Advisory.

As the U.S. presidential race heats up, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-election-interference-wray-2024-campaign-ai-a0c4a95c818839b18f919c6d648c4dcf">warned about the growing threat</a>, saying generative AI makes it easy for "foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.”

With AI deepfakes,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/deepfake-trump-ai-biden-tiktok-72194f59823037391b3888a1720ba7c2">a candidate’s image</a>&nbsp;can be smeared, or softened. Voters can be steered toward or away from candidates — or even to avoid the polls altogether. But perhaps the greatest threat to democracy, experts say, is that a surge of AI deepfakes could erode the public’s trust in what they see and hear.

Some recent examples of AI deepfakes include:

— A video of Moldova's pro-Western president throwing her support behind a political party friendly to Russia.

— Audio clips of Slovakia's liberal party leader discussing vote rigging and raising the price of beer.

— A video of an opposition lawmaker in Bangladesh — a conservative Muslim majority nation — wearing a bikini.

The novelty and sophistication of the technology makes it hard to track who is behind AI deepfakes. Experts say governments and companies are not yet capable of stopping the deluge, nor are they moving fast enough to solve the problem.

As the technology improves, “definitive answers about a lot of the fake content are going to be hard to come by,” Ajder said.

Some AI deepfakes aim to sow doubt about candidates' allegiances.

In Moldova, an Eastern European country bordering Ukraine, pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been a frequent target. One AI deepfake that circulated shortly before local elections depicted her endorsing a Russian-friendly party and announcing plans to resign.

Officials in Moldova believe the Russian government is behind the activity. With presidential elections this year, the deepfakes aim “to erode trust in our electoral process, candidates and institutions — but also to erode trust between people,” said Olga Rosca, an adviser to Sandu. The Russian government declined to comment for this story.

China has also been accused of weaponizing generative AI for political purposes.

In Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own, an AI deepfake gained attention earlier this year by stirring concerns about U.S. interference in local politics.

The fake clip circulating on TikTok showed U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, promising stronger U.S. military support for Taiwan if the incumbent party's candidates were elected in January.

Wittman blamed the Chinese Communist Party for trying to meddle in Taiwanese politics, saying it uses TikTok — a Chinese-owned company — to spread “propaganda.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said his government doesn't comment on fake videos and that it opposes interference in other countries' internal affairs. The Taiwan election, he stressed, “is a local affair of China.”

Audio-only deepfakes are especially hard to verify because, unlike photos and videos, they lack telltale signs of manipulated content.

In Slovakia, another country overshadowed by Russian influence, audio clips resembling the voice of the liberal party chief were shared widely on social media just days before parliamentary elections. The clips purportedly captured him talking about hiking beer prices and rigging the vote.

It's understandable that voters might fall for the deception, Ajder said, because humans are “much more used to judging with our eyes than with our ears.”

In the U.S., robocalls impersonating U.S. President Joe Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to abstain from voting in January's primary election. The calls were later&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-robocall-biden-new-hampshire-primary-2024-f94aa2d7f835ccc3cc254a90cd481a99">traced to a political consultant</a>&nbsp;who said he was trying to publicize the dangers of AI deepfakes.

In poorer countries, where media literacy lags, even low-quality AI fakes can be effective.

Such was the case last year in Bangladesh, where opposition lawmaker Rumeen Farhana — a vocal critic of the ruling party — was falsely depicted wearing a bikini. The viral video sparked outrage in the conservative, majority-Muslim nation.

“They trust whatever they see on Facebook,” Farhana said.

Experts are particularly concerned about upcoming elections in India, the world’s largest democracy and where social media platforms are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/misinformation-surges-india-covid-c52d04de1c3b2332d572736ee069a495">breeding grounds for disinformation</a>.

Some political campaigns are using generative AI to bolster their candidate’s image.

In Indonesia, the team that ran&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-president-election-prabowo-subianto-dce462b4c334cd4fb92f95de0ddc3804">the presidential campaign of Prabowo Subianto</a>&nbsp;deployed a simple mobile app to build a deeper connection with supporters across the vast island nation. The app enabled voters to upload photos and make AI-generated images of themselves with Subianto.

As the types of AI deepfakes multiply, authorities around the world are scrambling to come up with guardrails.

The European Union already requires social media platforms to cut the risk of spreading disinformation or “election manipulation.” It will mandate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-act-european-union-chatbots-155157e2be2e42d0f1acca33983d8c82">special labeling of AI deepfakes</a>&nbsp;starting next year, too late for the EU's parliamentary elections in June. Still, the rest of the world is a lot further behind.

The world's biggest tech companies recently — and voluntarily — signed a pact to prevent AI tools from disrupting elections. For example, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook has said it will&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/meta-adds-labels-to-ai-imagery-deepfakes-415163d053ed915042a04f1ec3d9eafa">start labeling</a>&nbsp;deepfakes that appear on its platforms.

But deepfakes are harder to rein in on apps like the Telegram chat service, which did not sign the voluntary pact and uses encrypted chats that can be difficult to monitor.

Some experts worry that efforts to rein in AI deepfakes could have unintended consequences.

Well-meaning governments or companies might trample on the sometimes “very thin” line between political commentary and an “illegitimate attempt to smear a candidate,” said Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.

Major generative AI services have rules to limit political disinformation. But experts say it remains too easy to outwit the platforms' restrictions or use alternative services that don't have the same safeguards.

Even without bad intentions, the rising use of AI is problematic. Many popular AI-powered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbots-elections-artificial-intelligence-chatgpt-falsehoods-cc50dd0f3f4e7cc322c7235220fc4c69?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share">chatbots are still spitting out false and misleading information</a>&nbsp;that threatens to disenfranchise voters.

And software isn't the only threat. Candidates could try to deceive voters by claiming that real events portraying them in an unfavorable light were manufactured by AI.

“A world in which everything is suspect — and so everyone gets to choose what they believe — is also a world that’s really challenging for a flourishing democracy,” said Lisa Reppell, a researcher at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Arlington, Virginia.

Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Krutika Pathi in New Delhi, Huizhong Wu in Bangkok, Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dake Kang in Beijing, and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.

By ALI SWENSON and KELVIN CHAN&nbsp;NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-elections-social-media-technology-4086949d878336f8ea6daa4dee725d94">disinformation</a>&nbsp;worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters.It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/c737b8bd4d24487db64194d95ec4d5f0">teams of people</a>&nbsp;with time, technical skill and money. Now, using free and low-cost generative artificial intelligence services from companies like Google and OpenAI, anyone can create high-quality “deepfakes” with just a simple text prompt.A wave of AI deepfakes tied to elections in Europe and Asia has coursed through social media for months, serving as a warning for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-elections-2024-preview-cb77b0940964c5c95a9affc8ebb6f0b7">more than 50 countries heading to the polls</a>&nbsp;this year.“You don’t need to look far to see some people ... being clearly confused as to whether something is real or not,” said Henry Ajder, a leading expert in generative AI based in Cambridge, England.The question is no longer whether AI deepfakes could affect elections, but how influential they will be, said Ajder, who runs a consulting firm called Latent Space Advisory.As the U.S. presidential race heats up, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-election-interference-wray-2024-campaign-ai-a0c4a95c818839b18f919c6d648c4dcf">warned about the growing threat</a>, saying generative AI makes it easy for "foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.”With AI deepfakes,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/deepfake-trump-ai-biden-tiktok-72194f59823037391b3888a1720ba7c2">a candidate’s image</a>&nbsp;can be smeared, or softened. Voters can be steered toward or away from candidates — or even to avoid the polls altogether. But perhaps the greatest threat to democracy, experts say, is that a surge of AI deepfakes could erode the public’s trust in what they see and hear.Some recent examples of AI deepfakes include:— A video of Moldova's pro-Western president throwing her support behind a political party friendly to Russia.— Audio clips of Slovakia's liberal party leader discussing vote rigging and raising the price of beer.— A video of an opposition lawmaker in Bangladesh — a conservative Muslim majority nation — wearing a bikini.The novelty and sophistication of the technology makes it hard to track who is behind AI deepfakes. Experts say governments and companies are not yet capable of stopping the deluge, nor are they moving fast enough to solve the problem.As the technology improves, “definitive answers about a lot of the fake content are going to be hard to come by,” Ajder said.ERODING TRUSTSome AI deepfakes aim to sow doubt about candidates' allegiances.In Moldova, an Eastern European country bordering Ukraine, pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been a frequent target. One AI deepfake that circulated shortly before local elections depicted her endorsing a Russian-friendly party and announcing plans to resign.Officials in Moldova believe the Russian government is behind the activity. With presidential elections this year, the deepfakes aim “to erode trust in our electoral process, candidates and institutions — but also to erode trust between people,” said Olga Rosca, an adviser to Sandu. The Russian government declined to comment for this story.China has also been accused of weaponizing generative AI for political purposes.In Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own, an AI deepfake gained attention earlier this year by stirring concerns about U.S. interference in local politics.The fake clip circulating on TikTok showed U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, promising stronger U.S. military support for Taiwan if the incumbent party's candidates were elected in January.Wittman blamed the Chinese Communist Party for trying to meddle in Taiwanese politics, saying it uses TikTok — a Chinese-owned company — to spread “propaganda.”A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said his government doesn't comment on fake videos and that it opposes interference in other countries' internal affairs. The Taiwan election, he stressed, “is a local affair of China.”BLURRING REALITYAudio-only deepfakes are especially hard to verify because, unlike photos and videos, they lack telltale signs of manipulated content.In Slovakia, another country overshadowed by Russian influence, audio clips resembling the voice of the liberal party chief were shared widely on social media just days before parliamentary elections. The clips purportedly captured him talking about hiking beer prices and rigging the vote.It's understandable that voters might fall for the deception, Ajder said, because humans are “much more used to judging with our eyes than with our ears.”In the U.S., robocalls impersonating U.S. President Joe Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to abstain from voting in January's primary election. The calls were later&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-robocall-biden-new-hampshire-primary-2024-f94aa2d7f835ccc3cc254a90cd481a99">traced to a political consultant</a>&nbsp;who said he was trying to publicize the dangers of AI deepfakes.In poorer countries, where media literacy lags, even low-quality AI fakes can be effective.Such was the case last year in Bangladesh, where opposition lawmaker Rumeen Farhana — a vocal critic of the ruling party — was falsely depicted wearing a bikini. The viral video sparked outrage in the conservative, majority-Muslim nation.“They trust whatever they see on Facebook,” Farhana said.Experts are particularly concerned about upcoming elections in India, the world’s largest democracy and where social media platforms are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/misinformation-surges-india-covid-c52d04de1c3b2332d572736ee069a495">breeding grounds for disinformation</a>.A CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACYSome political campaigns are using generative AI to bolster their candidate’s image.In Indonesia, the team that ran&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-president-election-prabowo-subianto-dce462b4c334cd4fb92f95de0ddc3804">the presidential campaign of Prabowo Subianto</a>&nbsp;deployed a simple mobile app to build a deeper connection with supporters across the vast island nation. The app enabled voters to upload photos and make AI-generated images of themselves with Subianto.As the types of AI deepfakes multiply, authorities around the world are scrambling to come up with guardrails.The European Union already requires social media platforms to cut the risk of spreading disinformation or “election manipulation.” It will mandate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-act-european-union-chatbots-155157e2be2e42d0f1acca33983d8c82">special labeling of AI deepfakes</a>&nbsp;starting next year, too late for the EU's parliamentary elections in June. Still, the rest of the world is a lot further behind.The world's biggest tech companies recently — and voluntarily — signed a pact to prevent AI tools from disrupting elections. For example, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook has said it will&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/meta-adds-labels-to-ai-imagery-deepfakes-415163d053ed915042a04f1ec3d9eafa">start labeling</a>&nbsp;deepfakes that appear on its platforms.But deepfakes are harder to rein in on apps like the Telegram chat service, which did not sign the voluntary pact and uses encrypted chats that can be difficult to monitor.Some experts worry that efforts to rein in AI deepfakes could have unintended consequences.Well-meaning governments or companies might trample on the sometimes “very thin” line between political commentary and an “illegitimate attempt to smear a candidate,” said Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.Major generative AI services have rules to limit political disinformation. But experts say it remains too easy to outwit the platforms' restrictions or use alternative services that don't have the same safeguards.Even without bad intentions, the rising use of AI is problematic. Many popular AI-powered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbots-elections-artificial-intelligence-chatgpt-falsehoods-cc50dd0f3f4e7cc322c7235220fc4c69?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share">chatbots are still spitting out false and misleading information</a>&nbsp;that threatens to disenfranchise voters.And software isn't the only threat. Candidates could try to deceive voters by claiming that real events portraying them in an unfavorable light were manufactured by AI.“A world in which everything is suspect — and so everyone gets to choose what they believe — is also a world that’s really challenging for a flourishing democracy,” said Lisa Reppell, a researcher at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Arlington, Virginia.__Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Krutika Pathi in New Delhi, Huizhong Wu in Bangkok, Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dake Kang in Beijing, and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.__

 AI created election disinformation already deceiving voters

VATICAN CITY (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pope-francis">Pope Francis</a>&nbsp;says he has no plans to resign and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-francis-health-italy-6bcbbd81b293d03ea57ca1c597aba4fb">isn’t suffering from any health problems</a>&nbsp;that would require doing so, saying in a new memoir he still has “many projects to bring to fruition.”

Francis, 87, made the comments in an autobiography, “Life: My Story Through History,” which is being published Tuesday, the 11th&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-15a1f30a5ae64cf992ee71e028283229">anniversary of his installation as pope</a>. Extensive excerpts were published Thursday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

In the memoir, written with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, Francis traces key moments of his life and their intersection with world events (World War II, Argentina’s military dictatorship and Vatican intrigue) and how they together inform his priorities as pope.

Significantly, he addresses recurring speculation about his health problems,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-conservatives-abortion-us-bbfc346c117bd9ae68a1963478bea6b3">criticism from conservatives</a>&nbsp;and what both may mean for the future of his pontificate. Such questions have always surrounded the papacy but the prospect of a papal resignation only became a reality with the late&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-benedict-xvi-dead-9d486fd9b12eab1177b9eb8ab7be22f4">Pope Benedict XVI</a>&nbsp;'s historic 2013 retirement.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been battling bronchitis, the flu and a cold on and off this winter and for the past two weeks has asked an aide to read most of his speeches. He had a chunk of his large intestine removed in 2021 and was hospitalized three times last year, including once to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-health-758c3d7b07e6d6f242c4a5ea6f2de154">remove intestinal scar tissue</a>&nbsp;from previous surgeries to address diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall.

In his memoir, he stressed that the papacy is a job for life but that “if a serious physical impediment” occurs, he has already penned a letter of resignation that is being held in the Secretariat of State.

“But this is, I repeat, a distant possibility, because I truly do not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning,” he said. “Some people may have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after a stay in the hospital, I might make an announcement of that kind, but there is no risk of it: Thanks be to God, I enjoy good health, and as I have said, there are many projects to bring to fruition, God willing."

Francis acknowledged that critics inside the Vatican and out have accused him of destroying the papacy and have tried to block the reforms that he was mandated by cardinals to enact as a result of his 2013 election.

“There was a strong desire to change things, to abandon certain attitudes, which, sadly, have proved difficult to eradicate,” he said. “Needless to say, there are always some who wish to put the brakes on reform, who want things always to stay as they were during the days of pope kings.”

In the memoir, Francis doubled down on his recent decision to allow Catholic priests to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-lgbtq-blessing-africa-france-12ede13dec72ecdd9f6da1dd1877d7e5">bless same-sex couples</a>&nbsp;and denied that the criticism that erupted could split the church.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-lgbtq-blessing-africa-france-12ede13dec72ecdd9f6da1dd1877d7e5">Africa’s bishops as a whole</a>, as well as individual conservative bishops around the world, have said they would not follow the new directive.

“I just want to say that God loves everyone, especially sinners. And if my brother bishops, according to their discernment, decide not to follow this path it doesn’t mean that this is the antechamber to schism, because the church’s doctrine is not brought into question,” Francis said.

He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-civil-union-comment-8f53e237da41da9891564268f1a2e66a">reaffirmed his support for civil unions</a>&nbsp;while ruling out gay marriage, saying “it is right that these people who experience the gift of love should have the same legal protections as everyone else.”

He reasoned that Jesus spent time with people who lived on the margins of society “and that is what the church should be doing today with members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

“Make them feel at home, especially those who have been baptized and are in every respect among God’s people," he said. "And those who have not been baptized and would like to be, or who would like to be godfathers or godmothers: let them be welcomed, please; let them follow a careful pathway to personal discernment.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710452214314.png" alt="The book is set for release on Tuesday" />
 <figcaption>The book is set for release on Tuesday</figcaption>
 </figure>VATICAN CITY (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pope-francis">Pope Francis</a>&nbsp;says he has no plans to resign and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-francis-health-italy-6bcbbd81b293d03ea57ca1c597aba4fb">isn’t suffering from any health problems</a>&nbsp;that would require doing so, saying in a new memoir he still has “many projects to bring to fruition.”Francis, 87, made the comments in an autobiography, “Life: My Story Through History,” which is being published Tuesday, the 11th&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-15a1f30a5ae64cf992ee71e028283229">anniversary of his installation as pope</a>. Extensive excerpts were published Thursday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.In the memoir, written with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, Francis traces key moments of his life and their intersection with world events (World War II, Argentina’s military dictatorship and Vatican intrigue) and how they together inform his priorities as pope.Significantly, he addresses recurring speculation about his health problems,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-conservatives-abortion-us-bbfc346c117bd9ae68a1963478bea6b3">criticism from conservatives</a>&nbsp;and what both may mean for the future of his pontificate. Such questions have always surrounded the papacy but the prospect of a papal resignation only became a reality with the late&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-benedict-xvi-dead-9d486fd9b12eab1177b9eb8ab7be22f4">Pope Benedict XVI</a>&nbsp;'s historic 2013 retirement.Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been battling bronchitis, the flu and a cold on and off this winter and for the past two weeks has asked an aide to read most of his speeches. He had a chunk of his large intestine removed in 2021 and was hospitalized three times last year, including once to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-health-758c3d7b07e6d6f242c4a5ea6f2de154">remove intestinal scar tissue</a>&nbsp;from previous surgeries to address diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall.In his memoir, he stressed that the papacy is a job for life but that “if a serious physical impediment” occurs, he has already penned a letter of resignation that is being held in the Secretariat of State.“But this is, I repeat, a distant possibility, because I truly do not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning,” he said. “Some people may have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after a stay in the hospital, I might make an announcement of that kind, but there is no risk of it: Thanks be to God, I enjoy good health, and as I have said, there are many projects to bring to fruition, God willing."Francis acknowledged that critics inside the Vatican and out have accused him of destroying the papacy and have tried to block the reforms that he was mandated by cardinals to enact as a result of his 2013 election.“There was a strong desire to change things, to abandon certain attitudes, which, sadly, have proved difficult to eradicate,” he said. “Needless to say, there are always some who wish to put the brakes on reform, who want things always to stay as they were during the days of pope kings.”In the memoir, Francis doubled down on his recent decision to allow Catholic priests to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-lgbtq-blessing-africa-france-12ede13dec72ecdd9f6da1dd1877d7e5">bless same-sex couples</a>&nbsp;and denied that the criticism that erupted could split the church.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-lgbtq-blessing-africa-france-12ede13dec72ecdd9f6da1dd1877d7e5">Africa’s bishops as a whole</a>, as well as individual conservative bishops around the world, have said they would not follow the new directive.“I just want to say that God loves everyone, especially sinners. And if my brother bishops, according to their discernment, decide not to follow this path it doesn’t mean that this is the antechamber to schism, because the church’s doctrine is not brought into question,” Francis said.He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-vatican-civil-union-comment-8f53e237da41da9891564268f1a2e66a">reaffirmed his support for civil unions</a>&nbsp;while ruling out gay marriage, saying “it is right that these people who experience the gift of love should have the same legal protections as everyone else.”He reasoned that Jesus spent time with people who lived on the margins of society “and that is what the church should be doing today with members of the LGBTQ+ community.”“Make them feel at home, especially those who have been baptized and are in every respect among God’s people," he said. "And those who have not been baptized and would like to be, or who would like to be godfathers or godmothers: let them be welcomed, please; let them follow a careful pathway to personal discernment.”

Pope Francis reveals in autobiography his plans for the future

KANSAS CITY —The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported just after 9:30a.m. Sunday they canceled the Amber Alert for the the child. She was found and is safe. The patrol did not report and arrest or additional details.

KANSAS CITY —Authorities in Kansas City issued an Amber Alert just after 4:30a.m. Sunday for a missing 4-year-old girl.

Just after 9p.m. Saturday Amira Bills was abducted at 71st and Prospect in Kansas City.&nbsp; The suspect allegedly assaulted the mother of the&nbsp; girl inside a vehicle. The mother left the vehicle and the suspect 36-year-old Aerian D. Bills drove away with the child.

Police are looking for a white Chevy Malibu 4-door with a Missouri Temporary&nbsp; Plate 077RUE. The vehicle was traveling westbound on Myers Boulevard from Olive Street.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710676264550.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported just after 9:30a.m. Sunday they canceled the Amber Alert for the the child. She was found and is safe. The patrol did not report and arrest or additional details.------------KANSAS CITY —Authorities in Kansas City issued an Amber Alert just after 4:30a.m. Sunday for a missing 4-year-old girl.Just after 9p.m. Saturday Amira Bills was abducted at 71st and Prospect in Kansas City.&nbsp; The suspect allegedly assaulted the mother of the&nbsp; girl inside a vehicle. The mother left the vehicle and the suspect 36-year-old Aerian D. Bills drove away with the child.Police are looking for a white Chevy Malibu 4-door with a Missouri Temporary&nbsp; Plate 077RUE. The vehicle was traveling westbound on Myers Boulevard from Olive Street.

Patrol: Amber Alert canceled; child abducted in Kansas City is safe

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>

Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games since ticket prices soared after the team won the championship in 2020.

So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack.

Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet, Bridget was trampled while shielding Gabriella in the chaos and Jason gave chest compressions to a man injured by gunfire. He believes it was Lyndell Mays,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-02-20/chiefs-shooting-charges-suspects-kansas-city-jackson-county-prosecutor-lyndell-mays-dominic-miller-second-degree-murder">one of two men charged</a>&nbsp;with second-degree felony murder.

“There’s never going to be a Valentine’s Day where I look back and I don’t think about it,” Gabriella said, “because that’s a day where we’re supposed to have fun and appreciate the people that we have.”

One month after the parade in which the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/gun-violence-data-public-health-experts-research-funds/">U.S. public health crisis</a>&nbsp;that is gun violence played out on live television, the Bartons are reeling from their role at its epicenter. They were just feet from 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed. Twenty-four other people were injured.

Although the Bartons aren’t included in that official victim number, they were traumatized, physically and emotionally, and pain permeates their lives: Bridget and Jason keep canceling plans to go out, opting instead to stay home together; Gabriella plans to join a boxing club instead of the dance team.

During this first month, Kansas City community leaders have weighed how to care for people caught in the bloody crossfire and how to divide more than $2 million donated to public funds for victims in the initial outpouring of grief.

The questions are far-reaching: How does a city compensate people for medical bills, recovery treatments, counseling, and lost wages? And what about those who have PTSD-like symptoms that could last years? How does a community identify and care for victims often overlooked in the first flush of reporting on a mass shooting: the injured?

The injured list could grow. Prosecutors and Kansas City police are mounting a legal case against four of the shooting suspects, and are encouraging additional victims to come forward.

“Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who suffered wounds from their trying to escape. A stampede occurred while people were trying to flee,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Anyone who “in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down, you were trampled, you sprained an ankle, you broke a bone.”

Meanwhile, people who took charge of raising money and providing services to care for the injured are wrestling with who gets the money — and who doesn’t. Due to large donations from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, some victims or their families will have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. Other victims may simply have their counseling covered.

The overall economic cost of U.S. firearm injuries is estimated by a recent&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2796678?guestAccessKey=55a622d7-8d12-4a34-886c-1f25eb5ced0a&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=092722">Harvard Medical School study</a>&nbsp;at $557 billion annually. Most of that — 88% — represented quality-of-life losses among those injured by firearms and their families. The JAMA-published study found that each nonfatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.

In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, as well-intentioned GoFundMe pages popped up to help victims, executives at United Way of Greater Kansas City gathered to devise a collective donation response. They came up with “three concentric circles of victims,” said Jessica Blubaugh, the United Way’s chief philanthropy officer, and launched the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>.

“There were folks that were obviously directly impacted by gunfire. Then the next circle out is folks that were impacted, not necessarily by gunshots, but by physical impact. So maybe they were trampled and maybe they tore a ligament or something because they were running away,” Blubaugh said. “Then third is folks that were just adjacent and/or bystanders that have a lot of trauma from all of this.”

Bridget Barton returned to Kansas City the day after the shooting to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack and to give a statement at police headquarters. Unbeknownst to her, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the police and fire chiefs had just finished a press conference outside the building. She was mobbed by the media assembled there — interviews that are now a blur.

“I don’t know how you guys do this every day,” she remembered telling a detective once she finally got inside.

The Bartons have been overwhelmed by well wishes from close friends and family as they navigate the trauma, almost to the point of exhaustion. Bridget took to social media to explain she wasn’t ignoring the messages, she’s just responding as she feels able — some days she can hardly look at her phone, she said.

A family friend bought new Barbie blankets for Gabriella and her friend after the ones they brought to the parade were lost or ruined. Bridget tried replacing the blankets herself at her local Walmart, but when she was bumped accidentally, it triggered a panic attack. She abandoned her cart and drove home.

“I’m trying to get my anxiety under control,” Bridget said.

That means therapy. Before the parade, she was already seeing a therapist and planning to begin eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a form of therapy associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the shooting is the first thing she wants to talk about in therapy.

Since Gabriella, an eighth grader, has returned to middle school, she has dealt with the compounding immaturity of adolescence: peers telling her to get over it, pointing finger guns at her, or even saying it should have been her who was shot. But her friends are checking on her and asking how she’s doing. She wishes more people would do the same for her friend, who took off running when the shooting started and avoided injury. Gabriella feels guilty about bringing her to what turned into a horrifying experience.

“We can tell her all day long, ‘It wasn’t your fault. She’s not your responsibility.’ Just like I can tell myself, ‘It wasn’t my fault or my responsibility,’” Bridget said. “But I still bawled on her mom’s shoulder telling her how sorry I was that I grabbed my kid first.”

The two girls have spent a lot of time talking since the shooting, which Gabriella said helps with her own stress. So does spending time with her dog and her lizard, putting on makeup, and listening to music — Tech N9ne’s performance was a highlight of the Super Bowl celebration for her.

In addition to the spark burns on Gabriella’s legs, when she fell to the concrete in the pandemonium she split open a burn wound on her stomach previously caused by a styling iron.

“When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and seeing everyone run,” Gabriella said of the wound.

It’s hard not to feel forgotten by the public, Bridget said. The shooting, especially its survivors, have largely faded from the headlines aside from court dates.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286094976.html">Two additional</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286245420.html">high-profile</a>&nbsp;shootings have occurred in the area since the parade. Doesn’t the community care, she wonders, that her family is still living with the fallout every day?

“I’m going to put this as plainly as possible. I’m f—ing pissed because my family went through something traumatic,” Bridget vented in a recent social media post. “I don’t really want anything other [than], ‘Your story matters, too, and we want to know how you’re doing.’ Have we gotten that? Abso-f—lutely not.”

Helped in part by celebrities like Swift and Kelce, donations for the family of Lopez-Galvan, the lone fatality, and other victims poured in immediately after the shootings. Swift and Kelce donated $100,000 each. With the help of an initial $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Way’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>&nbsp;took off, reaching $1 million in the first two weeks and sitting at $1.2 million now.

Six&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/kansas-city-parade-help">verified GoFundMe funds</a>&nbsp;were established. One solely for the Lopez-Galvan family has collected over $406,000. Smaller ones were started by a local college student and Swift fans. Churches have also stepped up, and one local coalition had raised $183,000, money set aside for Lopez-Galvan’s funeral, counseling services for five victims, and other medical bills from Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital, said Ray Jarrett, executive director of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://unitekc.org/">Unite KC</a>.

Meanwhile, those leading the efforts found models in other cities. The United Way’s Blubaugh called counterparts who’d responded to their own mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Newtown, Connecticut.

“The unfortunate reality is we have a cadre of communities across the country who have already faced tragedies like this,” Blubaugh said. “So there is an unfortunate protocol that is, sort of, already in place.”

#KCStrong monies could start being paid out by the end of March, Blubaugh said. Hundreds of people called the nonprofit’s 211 line, and the United Way is consulting with hospitals and law enforcement to verify victims and then offer services they may need, she said.

The range of needs is staggering — several people are still recovering at home, some are seeking counseling, and many weren’t even counted in the beginning. For instance, a plainclothes police officer was injured in the melee but is doing fine now, said Police Chief Stacey Graves.

Determining who is eligible for assistance was one of the first conversations United Way officials had when creating the fund. They prioritized three areas of focus: first were the wounded victims and their families, second was collaborating with organizations already helping victims in violence intervention and prevention and mental health services, and third were the first responders.

Specifically, the funds will be steered to cover medical bills, or lost wages for those who haven’t been able to work since the shootings, Blubaugh said. The goal is to work quickly to help people, she said, but also to spend the money in a judicious, strategic way.

“We don’t have a clear sightline of the entire landscape that we’re dealing with,” Blubaugh said. “Not only of how much money do we have to work with, but also, what is the landscape of need? And we need both of those things to be able to make those decisions.”

Firsthand experience of daily Kansas City violence

Jason used his lone remaining sick day to stay home with Bridget and Gabriella. An overnight automation technician, he is the family’s primary breadwinner.

“I can’t take off work, you know?” he said. “It happened. It sucked. But it’s time to move on.”

“He’s a guy’s guy,” Bridget interjected.

On Jason’s first night back at work, the sudden sound of falling dishes startled Bridget and Gabriella, sending them into each other’s arms crying.

“It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget said.

In a way, the shooting has brought the family closer. They’ve been through a lot recently. Jason survived a heart attack and cancer last year. Raising a teenager is never easy.

Bridget can appreciate that the bullet lodged in her backpack, narrowly missing her, and that Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks but she wasn’t shot.

Jason is grateful for another reason: It wasn’t a terrorist attack, as he initially feared. Instead, it fits into the type of gun violence he’d become accustomed to growing up in Kansas City, which recorded&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-12-28/kansas-city-matches-its-deadliest-year-they-dont-know-the-damage-it-does-to-the-families">its deadliest year</a>&nbsp;last year, although he’d never been this close to it before.

“This crap happens every single day,” he said. “The only difference is we were here for it.”

<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710635619692.png" alt=" The Barton family is not included in the official tally of 24 injured survivors of a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade in February. But Jason Barton; his wife, Bridget; and her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, are still reeling from their roles at its epicenter (Christopher Smith/KFF Health News)." />
 <figcaption> The Barton family is not included in the official tally of 24 injured survivors of a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade in February. But Jason Barton; his wife, Bridget; and her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, are still reeling from their roles at its epicenter (Christopher Smith/KFF Health News).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games since ticket prices soared after the team won the championship in 2020.So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack.Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet, Bridget was trampled while shielding Gabriella in the chaos and Jason gave chest compressions to a man injured by gunfire. He believes it was Lyndell Mays,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-02-20/chiefs-shooting-charges-suspects-kansas-city-jackson-county-prosecutor-lyndell-mays-dominic-miller-second-degree-murder">one of two men charged</a>&nbsp;with second-degree felony murder.“There’s never going to be a Valentine’s Day where I look back and I don’t think about it,” Gabriella said, “because that’s a day where we’re supposed to have fun and appreciate the people that we have.”One month after the parade in which the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/gun-violence-data-public-health-experts-research-funds/">U.S. public health crisis</a>&nbsp;that is gun violence played out on live television, the Bartons are reeling from their role at its epicenter. They were just feet from 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed. Twenty-four other people were injured.Although the Bartons aren’t included in that official victim number, they were traumatized, physically and emotionally, and pain permeates their lives: Bridget and Jason keep canceling plans to go out, opting instead to stay home together; Gabriella plans to join a boxing club instead of the dance team.During this first month, Kansas City community leaders have weighed how to care for people caught in the bloody crossfire and how to divide more than $2 million donated to public funds for victims in the initial outpouring of grief.The questions are far-reaching: How does a city compensate people for medical bills, recovery treatments, counseling, and lost wages? And what about those who have PTSD-like symptoms that could last years? How does a community identify and care for victims often overlooked in the first flush of reporting on a mass shooting: the injured?The injured list could grow. Prosecutors and Kansas City police are mounting a legal case against four of the shooting suspects, and are encouraging additional victims to come forward.“Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who suffered wounds from their trying to escape. A stampede occurred while people were trying to flee,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Anyone who “in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down, you were trampled, you sprained an ankle, you broke a bone.”Meanwhile, people who took charge of raising money and providing services to care for the injured are wrestling with who gets the money — and who doesn’t. Due to large donations from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, some victims or their families will have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. Other victims may simply have their counseling covered.The overall economic cost of U.S. firearm injuries is estimated by a recent&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2796678?guestAccessKey=55a622d7-8d12-4a34-886c-1f25eb5ced0a&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=092722">Harvard Medical School study</a>&nbsp;at $557 billion annually. Most of that — 88% — represented quality-of-life losses among those injured by firearms and their families. The JAMA-published study found that each nonfatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, as well-intentioned GoFundMe pages popped up to help victims, executives at United Way of Greater Kansas City gathered to devise a collective donation response. They came up with “three concentric circles of victims,” said Jessica Blubaugh, the United Way’s chief philanthropy officer, and launched the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>.“There were folks that were obviously directly impacted by gunfire. Then the next circle out is folks that were impacted, not necessarily by gunshots, but by physical impact. So maybe they were trampled and maybe they tore a ligament or something because they were running away,” Blubaugh said. “Then third is folks that were just adjacent and/or bystanders that have a lot of trauma from all of this.”<h2>PTSD, panic, and the echo of gunfire</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710635577719.png" alt=" A memorial for Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and Johnson County mother, sits outside Union Station days after a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade killed Lopez-Galvan and wounded 22 others (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> A memorial for Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and Johnson County mother, sits outside Union Station days after a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade killed Lopez-Galvan and wounded 22 others (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Bridget Barton returned to Kansas City the day after the shooting to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack and to give a statement at police headquarters. Unbeknownst to her, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the police and fire chiefs had just finished a press conference outside the building. She was mobbed by the media assembled there — interviews that are now a blur.“I don’t know how you guys do this every day,” she remembered telling a detective once she finally got inside.The Bartons have been overwhelmed by well wishes from close friends and family as they navigate the trauma, almost to the point of exhaustion. Bridget took to social media to explain she wasn’t ignoring the messages, she’s just responding as she feels able — some days she can hardly look at her phone, she said.A family friend bought new Barbie blankets for Gabriella and her friend after the ones they brought to the parade were lost or ruined. Bridget tried replacing the blankets herself at her local Walmart, but when she was bumped accidentally, it triggered a panic attack. She abandoned her cart and drove home.“I’m trying to get my anxiety under control,” Bridget said.That means therapy. Before the parade, she was already seeing a therapist and planning to begin eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a form of therapy associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the shooting is the first thing she wants to talk about in therapy.Since Gabriella, an eighth grader, has returned to middle school, she has dealt with the compounding immaturity of adolescence: peers telling her to get over it, pointing finger guns at her, or even saying it should have been her who was shot. But her friends are checking on her and asking how she’s doing. She wishes more people would do the same for her friend, who took off running when the shooting started and avoided injury. Gabriella feels guilty about bringing her to what turned into a horrifying experience.“We can tell her all day long, ‘It wasn’t your fault. She’s not your responsibility.’ Just like I can tell myself, ‘It wasn’t my fault or my responsibility,’” Bridget said. “But I still bawled on her mom’s shoulder telling her how sorry I was that I grabbed my kid first.”The two girls have spent a lot of time talking since the shooting, which Gabriella said helps with her own stress. So does spending time with her dog and her lizard, putting on makeup, and listening to music — Tech N9ne’s performance was a highlight of the Super Bowl celebration for her.In addition to the spark burns on Gabriella’s legs, when she fell to the concrete in the pandemonium she split open a burn wound on her stomach previously caused by a styling iron.“When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and seeing everyone run,” Gabriella said of the wound.It’s hard not to feel forgotten by the public, Bridget said. The shooting, especially its survivors, have largely faded from the headlines aside from court dates.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286094976.html">Two additional</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286245420.html">high-profile</a>&nbsp;shootings have occurred in the area since the parade. Doesn’t the community care, she wonders, that her family is still living with the fallout every day?“I’m going to put this as plainly as possible. I’m f—ing pissed because my family went through something traumatic,” Bridget vented in a recent social media post. “I don’t really want anything other [than], ‘Your story matters, too, and we want to know how you’re doing.’ Have we gotten that? Abso-f—lutely not.”<h2>‘What is the landscape of need?’</h2>Helped in part by celebrities like Swift and Kelce, donations for the family of Lopez-Galvan, the lone fatality, and other victims poured in immediately after the shootings. Swift and Kelce donated $100,000 each. With the help of an initial $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Way’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>&nbsp;took off, reaching $1 million in the first two weeks and sitting at $1.2 million now.Six&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/kansas-city-parade-help">verified GoFundMe funds</a>&nbsp;were established. One solely for the Lopez-Galvan family has collected over $406,000. Smaller ones were started by a local college student and Swift fans. Churches have also stepped up, and one local coalition had raised $183,000, money set aside for Lopez-Galvan’s funeral, counseling services for five victims, and other medical bills from Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital, said Ray Jarrett, executive director of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://unitekc.org/">Unite KC</a>.Meanwhile, those leading the efforts found models in other cities. The United Way’s Blubaugh called counterparts who’d responded to their own mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Newtown, Connecticut.“The unfortunate reality is we have a cadre of communities across the country who have already faced tragedies like this,” Blubaugh said. “So there is an unfortunate protocol that is, sort of, already in place.”#KCStrong monies could start being paid out by the end of March, Blubaugh said. Hundreds of people called the nonprofit’s 211 line, and the United Way is consulting with hospitals and law enforcement to verify victims and then offer services they may need, she said.The range of needs is staggering — several people are still recovering at home, some are seeking counseling, and many weren’t even counted in the beginning. For instance, a plainclothes police officer was injured in the melee but is doing fine now, said Police Chief Stacey Graves.Determining who is eligible for assistance was one of the first conversations United Way officials had when creating the fund. They prioritized three areas of focus: first were the wounded victims and their families, second was collaborating with organizations already helping victims in violence intervention and prevention and mental health services, and third were the first responders.Specifically, the funds will be steered to cover medical bills, or lost wages for those who haven’t been able to work since the shootings, Blubaugh said. The goal is to work quickly to help people, she said, but also to spend the money in a judicious, strategic way.“We don’t have a clear sightline of the entire landscape that we’re dealing with,” Blubaugh said. “Not only of how much money do we have to work with, but also, what is the landscape of need? And we need both of those things to be able to make those decisions.”<h2>Firsthand experience of daily Kansas City violence</h2>Jason used his lone remaining sick day to stay home with Bridget and Gabriella. An overnight automation technician, he is the family’s primary breadwinner.“I can’t take off work, you know?” he said. “It happened. It sucked. But it’s time to move on.”“He’s a guy’s guy,” Bridget interjected.On Jason’s first night back at work, the sudden sound of falling dishes startled Bridget and Gabriella, sending them into each other’s arms crying.“It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget said.In a way, the shooting has brought the family closer. They’ve been through a lot recently. Jason survived a heart attack and cancer last year. Raising a teenager is never easy.Bridget can appreciate that the bullet lodged in her backpack, narrowly missing her, and that Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks but she wasn’t shot.Jason is grateful for another reason: It wasn’t a terrorist attack, as he initially feared. Instead, it fits into the type of gun violence he’d become accustomed to growing up in Kansas City, which recorded&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-12-28/kansas-city-matches-its-deadliest-year-they-dont-know-the-damage-it-does-to-the-families">its deadliest year</a>&nbsp;last year, although he’d never been this close to it before.“This crap happens every single day,” he said. “The only difference is we were here for it.”<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.

They were injured at the KC Super Bowl rally shooting. Now they feel forgotten

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a registered Kansas sex offender on new allegations.

On Wednesday,&nbsp;Timothy Daniel Luker, 35, of Wichita was indicted on one count of distribution of child pornography, according to the United State's Attorney.

Luker has been listed as a registered sex offender since August of 2023. He was convicted of child porn possession in Arkansas in 2017, according to the Kansas Offender Registry.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gordon is prosecuting the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710441684397.png" alt="Luker-photo Butler Co." />
 <figcaption>Luker-photo Butler Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a registered Kansas sex offender on new allegations.On Wednesday,&nbsp;Timothy Daniel Luker, 35, of Wichita was indicted on one count of distribution of child pornography, according to the United State's Attorney.Luker has been listed as a registered sex offender since August of 2023. He was convicted of child porn possession in Arkansas in 2017, according to the Kansas Offender Registry.Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gordon is prosecuting the case.

Kansas sex offender accused of distributing child porn

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a pursuit by law enforcement.

Just after 1:30a.m. March 11, a sheriff's deputy attempted a traffic stop on a Honda motorcycle in the 1600 Block of NE Quincy Street in Topeka, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.

The driver refused to stop and that initiated a pursuit. During the chase, the motorcycle crashed on the Shunga Trail near Garfield Park when it entered a pond full of sewer water.

The driver, later identified as 36-year-old Brandon S. Riley of Topeka, ran into a sewage tunnel. Deputies chased and found him in the tunnel.

Riley was arrested on requested charges of speeding, driving the wrong way on a one-way road, driving on a sidewalk, failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving while license suspended, interference with law enforcement, driving with improper registration and with a license plate not assigned to that that vehicle. He also was wanted on a city of Topeka warrant.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710261293280.png" alt="Riley- photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Riley- photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a pursuit by law enforcement.Just after 1:30a.m. March 11, a sheriff's deputy attempted a traffic stop on a Honda motorcycle in the 1600 Block of NE Quincy Street in Topeka, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.The driver refused to stop and that initiated a pursuit. During the chase, the motorcycle crashed on the Shunga Trail near Garfield Park when it entered a pond full of sewer water.The driver, later identified as 36-year-old Brandon S. Riley of Topeka, ran into a sewage tunnel. Deputies chased and found him in the tunnel.Riley was arrested on requested charges of speeding, driving the wrong way on a one-way road, driving on a sidewalk, failure to stop at a stop sign, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving while license suspended, interference with law enforcement, driving with improper registration and with a license plate not assigned to that that vehicle. He also was wanted on a city of Topeka warrant.

Wanted Kan. man fled police, crashed motorcycle in sewage pond

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Detectives with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department are currently conducting a death investigation after a body was found near the Kansas River.

Just after 10:38a.m., a person fishing near the 12th Street Bridge over the Kansas River called 911 to report the discovery a body. 

 Officers were dispatched to the area where they confirmed the body of man near the river.

This death is currently under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit. Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips remain anonymous.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710621914932.png" alt="View of the Kansas River from the 12 Street Bridge-Google image" />
 <figcaption>View of the Kansas River from the 12 Street Bridge-Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Detectives with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department are currently conducting a death investigation after a body was found near the Kansas River.Just after 10:38a.m., a person fishing near the 12th Street Bridge over the Kansas River called 911 to report the discovery a body. Officers were dispatched to the area where they confirmed the body of man near the river.This death is currently under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit. Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips remain anonymous.

Police: Fisherman finds body near Kansas River

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA — U.S. Army Vessels (USAV SP4 James A. Loux (LSV-6), USAV Monterrey (LCU30), USAV Matamoros (LCU26), and USAV Wilson Warf (LCU11) from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis are en route to the Eastern Mediterranean to establish a roll-on, roll-off dock capability that allows ship to shore humanitarian assistance to Gaza, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.

SP4 James A. Loux, Monterrey, Matamoros, and Wilson Warf are carrying equipment and supplies needed to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies.

The seaborne delivery will complement other means of getting essential supplies to Gazans. The United States is also air-dropping food and supplies to Gaza and the U.S. Agency for International Development is working to get land routes open to those who need the supplies. &nbsp;

A look at what’s known about the operation temporary pier.

In the five months since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage, Israel's military has battered the territory, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The result of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel-Hamas war</a>&nbsp;is a devastating&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">humanitarian catastrophe</a>.

The U.N. says virtually all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are struggling to find food, and more than a half-million&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gaza-malnutrition-famine-children-dying-israel-palestinians-2f938b1a82d7822c7da67cc162da1a37">currently face starvation.</a>&nbsp;Many people have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.

Getting in food, medical supplies and other aid has been difficult, if not impossible at times, due to the ongoing hostilities and struggles to coordinate with the Israeli military, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-rafah-aid-us-senators-2bc2a3c5e5f8af8e2d3f0b7242c1a885">blocked routes and slowed deliveries</a>&nbsp;due to inspections.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid have to drive from the Rafah crossing with Egypt or the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, both on the southern edge of Gaza, through the conflict zone to reach the largely cut-off areas in the north.

It's been frustrating for the Biden administration as its efforts to step up aid to Gaza have been impeded by the obstacles posed by Israel, its close ally.

Last week, the U.S. began&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/airdrops-israel-gaza-palestinians-biden-9e6cfb3a2c7d909ca2a8a2abd25793ca">airdrops</a>&nbsp;of aid for Gaza. But that can provide only a limited amount of aid and may not reach those who need it.

In his address Thursday, Biden directed the military to construct a temporary pier on Gaza's coast "that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.”

Biden said the pier will “enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”

According to defense officials, the 7th Transportation Brigade based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia is already starting to pull together what's called the Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) equipment and watercraft.

It's like a huge LEGO system — an array of 40-foot-long (12-meter-long) pieces of steel that can be locked together to form a pier and causeway. The causeway would be up to 1,800 feet (nearly 550 meters) long and two lanes wide.

And in the coming days, U.S. troops will begin loading the equipment onto a large Military Sealift Command vessel. The equipment will include the steel pieces and smaller tug vessels that can help move things into place.

That loading isn't likely to start until sometime next week, and once done the ship will set off across the Atlantic Ocean with members of the 7th Transportation Brigade aboard. A number of other military units from the U.S. and abroad will also be participating in the mission.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710291193776.png" alt="Photos U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>Photos U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>LANGLEY, VIRGINIA — U.S. Army Vessels (USAV SP4 James A. Loux (LSV-6), USAV Monterrey (LCU30), USAV Matamoros (LCU26), and USAV Wilson Warf (LCU11) from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis are en route to the Eastern Mediterranean to establish a roll-on, roll-off dock capability that allows ship to shore humanitarian assistance to Gaza, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.SP4 James A. Loux, Monterrey, Matamoros, and Wilson Warf are carrying equipment and supplies needed to establish a temporary pier to deliver vital humanitarian supplies.The seaborne delivery will complement other means of getting essential supplies to Gazans. The United States is also air-dropping food and supplies to Gaza and the U.S. Agency for International Development is working to get land routes open to those who need the supplies. &nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710291319858.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>A look at what’s known about the operation temporary pier.WHY BUILD A FLOATING PIER?In the five months since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage, Israel's military has battered the territory, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The result of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel-Hamas war</a>&nbsp;is a devastating&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">humanitarian catastrophe</a>.The U.N. says virtually all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are struggling to find food, and more than a half-million&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gaza-malnutrition-famine-children-dying-israel-palestinians-2f938b1a82d7822c7da67cc162da1a37">currently face starvation.</a>&nbsp;Many people have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.Getting in food, medical supplies and other aid has been difficult, if not impossible at times, due to the ongoing hostilities and struggles to coordinate with the Israeli military, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-rafah-aid-us-senators-2bc2a3c5e5f8af8e2d3f0b7242c1a885">blocked routes and slowed deliveries</a>&nbsp;due to inspections.Trucks carrying humanitarian aid have to drive from the Rafah crossing with Egypt or the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, both on the southern edge of Gaza, through the conflict zone to reach the largely cut-off areas in the north.It's been frustrating for the Biden administration as its efforts to step up aid to Gaza have been impeded by the obstacles posed by Israel, its close ally.Last week, the U.S. began&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/airdrops-israel-gaza-palestinians-biden-9e6cfb3a2c7d909ca2a8a2abd25793ca">airdrops</a>&nbsp;of aid for Gaza. But that can provide only a limited amount of aid and may not reach those who need it.In his address Thursday, Biden directed the military to construct a temporary pier on Gaza's coast "that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.”Biden said the pier will “enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”ASSEMBLED LIKE LEGOSAccording to defense officials, the 7th Transportation Brigade based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia is already starting to pull together what's called the Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) equipment and watercraft.It's like a huge LEGO system — an array of 40-foot-long (12-meter-long) pieces of steel that can be locked together to form a pier and causeway. The causeway would be up to 1,800 feet (nearly 550 meters) long and two lanes wide.And in the coming days, U.S. troops will begin loading the equipment onto a large Military Sealift Command vessel. The equipment will include the steel pieces and smaller tug vessels that can help move things into place.That loading isn't likely to start until sometime next week, and once done the ship will set off across the Atlantic Ocean with members of the 7th Transportation Brigade aboard. A number of other military units from the U.S. and abroad will also be participating in the mission.Ryder said the troops will build an offshore pier where large ships can offload food and supplies. Then smaller military vessels will transport that aid from the floating pier to the temporary causeway that will be driven into the ground at the shoreline.Biden said Thursday that there will be no U.S. forces on the ground in Gaza for the mission, which will likely involve other allies, contractors and aid agencies.WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?A key question will be what Israel is prepared to do to support the aid delivery effort.The U.S. airdrops have been an unusual workaround by the Biden administration, which for months has appealed to Israel to increase the delivery of aid to Gaza and provide access and protection for trucks carrying the goods.According to Biden, the Israeli government will maintain security at the pier and protect it from any attacks by Hamas. And there may also be a need for crowd control, in case residents try to storm the pier to get the desperately needed food.While officials said they don't likely need security on the sea route to Israel there will be a requirement for allies and private ships to deliver the aid along the maritime corridor.It is also unclear who will be unloading the aid at the dock and moving it to shore.WHAT ARE OTHER NATIONS AID GROUPS DOING?Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides offered the use of his country’s port in Larnaca months ago for a possible sea route for aid deliveries to Gaza, a 230-mile (370-kilometer) journey. Cyprus invited authorities from Israel, the U.S. and other European countries to join Cypriot agents in vetting all shipments so nothing could be used by Hamas against Israel. The offer received strong interest from the Americans, Europeans and others, and extended planning followed.The European Commission said Friday that a ship bearing humanitarian aid was preparing to leave Cyprus and head for Gaza.The vessel belonging to Spain’s Open Arms aid group will make a pilot voyage to test the maritime corridor in the coming days. The ship has been waiting at Larnaca for permission to deliver food aid from World Central Kitchen, a U.S. charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.The UAE ambassador to the U.S., Yousef Al Otaiba, told the AP the exact timing of the pilot shipment by sea depended on conditions, but said Sunday looked favorable. The UAE funded the operation and worked directly with the Israelis in getting the shipment ready without issues, he said.