KANSAS CITY —Police are investigating another homicide in Kansas City.

Just before 9:30a.m. Monday, police were dispatched to report of a dead body in church parking lot of&nbsp;Dayspring Pentecostal Church at Bannister and Raytown Road, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.

First responders found a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.&nbsp;&nbsp;He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A passerby saw the man in the parking lot and called police. The name of the victim has not been released.&nbsp; Police have not released any suspect information or reported an arrest.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719251670898.png" alt="Photos Sheriff Daryl Forte" />
 <figcaption>Photos Sheriff Daryl Forte</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Police are investigating another homicide in Kansas City.Just before 9:30a.m. Monday, police were dispatched to report of a dead body in church parking lot of&nbsp;Dayspring Pentecostal Church at Bannister and Raytown Road, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.First responders found a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.&nbsp;&nbsp;He was pronounced dead at the scene.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719251646778.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>A passerby saw the man in the parking lot and called police. The name of the victim has not been released.&nbsp; Police have not released any suspect information or reported an arrest.

Homicide: Man found dead in Kansas City church parking lot

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/allison-kite/">ALLISON KITE</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

A leading abortion rights group’s CEO says restrictions on travel for patients seeking an abortion could be the next fight over reproductive health

OVERLAND PARK — In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court removed constitutional protections for abortion, Kansas providers have seen a surge in patients.

While states across the country moved swiftly to restrict access to abortion after the court struck down Roe v. Wade,&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/02/kansas-voters-defeat-abortion-amendment-in-unexpected-landslide-1/">Kansas voters opted to keep protections in place</a>.&nbsp;

Now, a leading abortion rights advocate says, the next fight could be over allowing patients to travel to receive abortions.

“That is coming,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. “Legislators are not ending their attacks on abortion. They’re just getting more nuanced.”&nbsp;

Wales spoke Monday alongside U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, at a press conference on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/06/24/u-s-supreme-court-overturns-right-to-abortion-in-landmark-decision/">Dobbs v. Jackson decision</a>, which struck down Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed the right to an abortion.

Davids said she has heard from constituents over and over that they fear their children and grandchildren “are going to grow up with fewer rights than they did.” And despite Kansas voters’ decision to keep abortion protected under the state constitution, Davids noted anti-abortion legislators continue to add restrictions and hurdles to patients seeking access.

“And any day now, we anticipate a decision from the Supreme Court that has the potential to once again erode or rip away health care, reproductive health care rights and, again, puts women at serious risk of not just illness but death,” Davids said.&nbsp;

She called it “unacceptable and concerning” and said pro-abortion rights Americans were not being heard.&nbsp;

“Have we not made our voices clear?” Davids said. “Have we not made our intentions and desires as citizens of this country clear? We should be expanding access to reproductive health care.”&nbsp;

Wales called the anniversary of the Dobbs decision a “solemn occasion,” saying Planned Parenthood patients went from being able to make their own decisions to “having the government interfere directly.”

“We are fortunate to be in a state where we do have access to abortion,” Wales said, “and we are now serving so many patients from out of state. We are seeing firsthand what a public health crisis looks like in Kansas.”&nbsp;

The Kansas Supreme Court in 2019 ruled the state constitution’s right to bodily autonomy extends to the decision to terminate a pregnancy. Kansas voters then rejected a constitutional amendment to remove the right to an abortion by a 59-41 margin in August 2022, two months after the Dobbs decision.

Since Roe was overturned, Wales said, Planned Parenthood’s Kansas clinics have seen a surge of patients from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and other states that enacted severe abortion restrictions. She fears states that have restricted access to abortion may soon make it harder for patients to travel to receive one.&nbsp;

Planned Parenthood is also&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/05/20/kansas-providers-challenge-new-abortion-survey-law-in-court/#:~:text=Under%20HB%202749%2C%20abortion%20seekers,is%20the%20result%20of%20incest.">challenging legislation passed by Kansas lawmakers</a>&nbsp;—&nbsp;over Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto — this spring that requires patients to answer a series of questions about whether they have been raped, if their partner is abusive or whether the pregnancy resulted from incest before receiving an abortion. The survey also would collect demographic information, including age, home state, race, level of education and marital status.&nbsp;

Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, released a statement criticizing Planned Parenthood’s court challenge of that law and Kelly’s administration for holding the release of&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/06/23/kansas-report-for-2022-shows-skyrocketing-number-of-out-of-state-abortion-seekers/">annual state statistics on abortion</a>. The state in previous years has released the report before June 30.

“Gov. Kelly’s decision to not release the numbers shows the very reason the legislation was needed in the first place,” Kansans for life said. “Is she afraid of Kansans seeing abortions are skyrocketing while one of the largest abortion clinics was operating without medical oversight?”

The statement was referring to the Trust Women clinic in Wichita that&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/05/24/kansas-abortion-clinic-halts-services-with-no-set-date-to-restart/">closed earlier this month</a>, citing staff and protocol changes.&nbsp;

“As we said on last year’s (Dobbs) anniversary,” the Kansans for Life statement said, “we will continue to work for a day the Sunflower State is a place that empowers women and gives them the tools to choose life — not the ever-growing destination for cruel abortions it has become.”

Jill Bronaugh, communications director for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said in a statement that the state agency’s decision to release the abortion data later this year came before lawmakers enacted a requirement that providers survey abortion patients and the state public statistics on abortion twice each year.

“KDHE is evaluating the reporting requirements and internal methods to determine when the biannual reports will be released,” Bronaugh said. “No dates have been set at this time.”

She said all abortion data will be included in the agency’s annual vital statistics report released in the late fall.

Wales welcomed the news that abortion statistics will be included with other health care information released annually. She said it doesn’t change anything for Planned Parenthood, which reports to the state monthly.

“It is nice to see abortion treated like other types of statistics in the state,” she said, “instead of being a political report that comes out on its own and gets lots of attention. It makes sense that public health officials would use data like they do in every other type of medical care.”&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719262347435.png" alt=" Emily Wales, right, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, speaks at a news conference alongside U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat. The press conference covered abortion issues on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Allison Kite/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Emily Wales, right, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, speaks at a news conference alongside U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat. The press conference covered abortion issues on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. (Allison Kite/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/allison-kite/">ALLISON KITE</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a><h2>A leading abortion rights group’s CEO says restrictions on travel for patients seeking an abortion could be the next fight over reproductive health</h2>OVERLAND PARK — In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court removed constitutional protections for abortion, Kansas providers have seen a surge in patients.While states across the country moved swiftly to restrict access to abortion after the court struck down Roe v. Wade,&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/02/kansas-voters-defeat-abortion-amendment-in-unexpected-landslide-1/">Kansas voters opted to keep protections in place</a>.&nbsp;Now, a leading abortion rights advocate says, the next fight could be over allowing patients to travel to receive abortions.“That is coming,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. “Legislators are not ending their attacks on abortion. They’re just getting more nuanced.”&nbsp;Wales spoke Monday alongside U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, at a press conference on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/06/24/u-s-supreme-court-overturns-right-to-abortion-in-landmark-decision/">Dobbs v. Jackson decision</a>, which struck down Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed the right to an abortion.Davids said she has heard from constituents over and over that they fear their children and grandchildren “are going to grow up with fewer rights than they did.” And despite Kansas voters’ decision to keep abortion protected under the state constitution, Davids noted anti-abortion legislators continue to add restrictions and hurdles to patients seeking access.“And any day now, we anticipate a decision from the Supreme Court that has the potential to once again erode or rip away health care, reproductive health care rights and, again, puts women at serious risk of not just illness but death,” Davids said.&nbsp;She called it “unacceptable and concerning” and said pro-abortion rights Americans were not being heard.&nbsp;“Have we not made our voices clear?” Davids said. “Have we not made our intentions and desires as citizens of this country clear? We should be expanding access to reproductive health care.”&nbsp;Wales called the anniversary of the Dobbs decision a “solemn occasion,” saying Planned Parenthood patients went from being able to make their own decisions to “having the government interfere directly.”“We are fortunate to be in a state where we do have access to abortion,” Wales said, “and we are now serving so many patients from out of state. We are seeing firsthand what a public health crisis looks like in Kansas.”&nbsp;The Kansas Supreme Court in 2019 ruled the state constitution’s right to bodily autonomy extends to the decision to terminate a pregnancy. Kansas voters then rejected a constitutional amendment to remove the right to an abortion by a 59-41 margin in August 2022, two months after the Dobbs decision.Since Roe was overturned, Wales said, Planned Parenthood’s Kansas clinics have seen a surge of patients from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and other states that enacted severe abortion restrictions. She fears states that have restricted access to abortion may soon make it harder for patients to travel to receive one.&nbsp;Planned Parenthood is also&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/05/20/kansas-providers-challenge-new-abortion-survey-law-in-court/#:~:text=Under%20HB%202749%2C%20abortion%20seekers,is%20the%20result%20of%20incest.">challenging legislation passed by Kansas lawmakers</a>&nbsp;—&nbsp;over Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto — this spring that requires patients to answer a series of questions about whether they have been raped, if their partner is abusive or whether the pregnancy resulted from incest before receiving an abortion. The survey also would collect demographic information, including age, home state, race, level of education and marital status.&nbsp;Kansans for Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, released a statement criticizing Planned Parenthood’s court challenge of that law and Kelly’s administration for holding the release of&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/06/23/kansas-report-for-2022-shows-skyrocketing-number-of-out-of-state-abortion-seekers/">annual state statistics on abortion</a>. The state in previous years has released the report before June 30.“Gov. Kelly’s decision to not release the numbers shows the very reason the legislation was needed in the first place,” Kansans for life said. “Is she afraid of Kansans seeing abortions are skyrocketing while one of the largest abortion clinics was operating without medical oversight?”The statement was referring to the Trust Women clinic in Wichita that&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/05/24/kansas-abortion-clinic-halts-services-with-no-set-date-to-restart/">closed earlier this month</a>, citing staff and protocol changes.&nbsp;“As we said on last year’s (Dobbs) anniversary,” the Kansans for Life statement said, “we will continue to work for a day the Sunflower State is a place that empowers women and gives them the tools to choose life — not the ever-growing destination for cruel abortions it has become.”Jill Bronaugh, communications director for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said in a statement that the state agency’s decision to release the abortion data later this year came before lawmakers enacted a requirement that providers survey abortion patients and the state public statistics on abortion twice each year.“KDHE is evaluating the reporting requirements and internal methods to determine when the biannual reports will be released,” Bronaugh said. “No dates have been set at this time.”She said all abortion data will be included in the agency’s annual vital statistics report released in the late fall.Wales welcomed the news that abortion statistics will be included with other health care information released annually. She said it doesn’t change anything for Planned Parenthood, which reports to the state monthly.“It is nice to see abortion treated like other types of statistics in the state,” she said, “instead of being a political report that comes out on its own and gets lots of attention. It makes sense that public health officials would use data like they do in every other type of medical care.”&nbsp;

On Dobbs decision anniversary, Kansas abortion rights supporters look to next battle

TOPEKA –&nbsp;While ticks and mosquitoes are a natural part of our environment, it is important to know that some may transmit harmful diseases. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) tracks illnesses caused by ticks and mosquitoes, and as of May 29, 2024, has received over 200 laboratory reports of tickborne diseases. Additionally, KDHE has received several reports of tick bites and complaints of high numbers of ticks, which indicates that tick activity and density are increasing and are occurring earlier in the season this year.

Numerous tickborne diseases caused by bacteria are present in Kansas. These include Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses (SFGR), and Tularemia. Two rare tickborne viruses, Heartland virus and Bourbon virus, have also been identified in Kansas in both humans and ticks. All of these tickborne diseases are transmitted by the Lone Star tick, the most abundant tick in Kansas. Lone Star ticks can be found widely throughout at least the eastern two-thirds of the state in a variety of habitats and are aggressive human biters. This year alone, KDHE has investigated several tickborne disease cases with severe health outcomes, including hospitalizations due to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Tularemia, and a fatal case of Bourbon virus.

“Vector-borne diseases, both those that are transmitted by ticks and those transmitted by mosquitoes are extremely active this year,”&nbsp;Dr. Erin Petro, KDHE State Public Health Veterinarian, said. “I really encourage people to take the risk of vector-borne diseases seriously and take personal protective measures for themselves and their pets to reduce their chance of acquiring an illness from a tick or mosquito bite. We’re also seeing emerging tick-associated conditions, like Alpha-gal syndrome, which can have lifelong consequences for those affected, which is why bite prevention is so important.”

In addition to increased tickborne diseases being reported to KDHE, there have been increased case reports of West Nile Virus (WNV), which is a reportable disease. While WNV cases occur every year in Kansas, the concerning trend this year is how early it’s being seen. Cases of WNV typically start in late July to early August. However, KDHE has already had two cases of WNV reported.

These cases serve as an important reminder to take precautions as you enjoy the outdoors this summer. Ticks are commonly found at the edge of trails, on tall grasses and in wooded, shaded areas. Mosquitoes are often more common at dawn and dusk and can breed in small amounts of standing water.

To reduce the risk of contracting a vector-borne disease, take the following steps:

For more information, visit KDHE’s&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWFwcy5rZGhlLnN0YXRlLmtzLnVzL2tzdGJkaG9tZS8_dXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPWdvdmRlbGl2ZXJ5IiwiYnVsbGV0aW5faWQiOiIyMDI0MDYyNC45NjY2Mjc4MSJ9.chflwFV9TMRsu4qRmUP7e2Fz_3FBbxZyz-5gQ_k9nQw/s/1305913448/br/244644434860-l">Tickborne Disease Data Stories</a>&nbsp;to learn more about tickborne diseases, signs and symptoms specific to each disease, tick bite prevention and tick distribution. CDC also has additional&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDMsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNkYy5nb3YvdmVjdG9yLWJvcm5lLWRpc2Vhc2VzL3ByZXZlbnRpb24vaW5kZXguaHRtbD91dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9Z292ZGVsaXZlcnkiLCJidWxsZXRpbl9pZCI6IjIwMjQwNjI0Ljk2NjYyNzgxIn0.yGt3gxaLyrz3ZHSbQCiGxYbx5lwV67iLAcdema_wEwo/s/1305913448/br/244644434860-l">information about vector-borne diseases on their website.</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1621905545005.jpeg" alt="Photo KDWP" />
 <figcaption>Photo KDWP</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA –&nbsp;While ticks and mosquitoes are a natural part of our environment, it is important to know that some may transmit harmful diseases. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) tracks illnesses caused by ticks and mosquitoes, and as of May 29, 2024, has received over 200 laboratory reports of tickborne diseases. Additionally, KDHE has received several reports of tick bites and complaints of high numbers of ticks, which indicates that tick activity and density are increasing and are occurring earlier in the season this year.Numerous tickborne diseases caused by bacteria are present in Kansas. These include Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses (SFGR), and Tularemia. Two rare tickborne viruses, Heartland virus and Bourbon virus, have also been identified in Kansas in both humans and ticks. All of these tickborne diseases are transmitted by the Lone Star tick, the most abundant tick in Kansas. Lone Star ticks can be found widely throughout at least the eastern two-thirds of the state in a variety of habitats and are aggressive human biters. This year alone, KDHE has investigated several tickborne disease cases with severe health outcomes, including hospitalizations due to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Tularemia, and a fatal case of Bourbon virus.“Vector-borne diseases, both those that are transmitted by ticks and those transmitted by mosquitoes are extremely active this year,”&nbsp;Dr. Erin Petro, KDHE State Public Health Veterinarian, said. “I really encourage people to take the risk of vector-borne diseases seriously and take personal protective measures for themselves and their pets to reduce their chance of acquiring an illness from a tick or mosquito bite. We’re also seeing emerging tick-associated conditions, like Alpha-gal syndrome, which can have lifelong consequences for those affected, which is why bite prevention is so important.”In addition to increased tickborne diseases being reported to KDHE, there have been increased case reports of West Nile Virus (WNV), which is a reportable disease. While WNV cases occur every year in Kansas, the concerning trend this year is how early it’s being seen. Cases of WNV typically start in late July to early August. However, KDHE has already had two cases of WNV reported.These cases serve as an important reminder to take precautions as you enjoy the outdoors this summer. Ticks are commonly found at the edge of trails, on tall grasses and in wooded, shaded areas. Mosquitoes are often more common at dawn and dusk and can breed in small amounts of standing water.To reduce the risk of contracting a vector-borne disease, take the following steps:<ul>
 <li>Use an EPA-registered insect repellent such as DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR3535 on all exposed skin. If going camping or hiking, treat clothing and gear with products containing 0.5 percent permethrin.</li><li>When doing yardwork, hiking, camping or recreating in areas where ticks and mosquitoes may be found, wear long pants tucked into socks or boots, if possible. Additionally, light colored clothing can make it easier to spot ticks.</li><li>Take steps to control mosquitoes indoors and outdoors, such as emptying standing water, particularly in old tires, tarps and flowerpots. Empty bird baths at least once a week to disrupt the mosquito life cycle.</li><li>Ensure pets remain tick free by consulting with a veterinarian about tick prevention products.</li><li>After spending time outdoors, shower and check for ticks again (some can be hard to spot). The vital areas to check are in and around the hair and ears, under the arms, inside the belly button, around the waist, between the legs and the back of the knees.</li><li>If a tick has bitten you, don’t squeeze it. Remove it with tweezers by grasping the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible, then pull outward. Dispose of the tick by flushing it down the toilet. Don’t forget to check pets for ticks.</li><li>Pay attention to common signs and symptoms of vector-borne illness such as fever/chills, body aches and/or rash. If any of these symptoms are present within a few weeks of spending time outdoors in areas that may have ticks or mosquitoes, it’s important to talk with a doctor about being tested for vector-borne illnesses.</li>
 </ul>For more information, visit KDHE’s&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWFwcy5rZGhlLnN0YXRlLmtzLnVzL2tzdGJkaG9tZS8_dXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fc291cmNlPWdvdmRlbGl2ZXJ5IiwiYnVsbGV0aW5faWQiOiIyMDI0MDYyNC45NjY2Mjc4MSJ9.chflwFV9TMRsu4qRmUP7e2Fz_3FBbxZyz-5gQ_k9nQw/s/1305913448/br/244644434860-l">Tickborne Disease Data Stories</a>&nbsp;to learn more about tickborne diseases, signs and symptoms specific to each disease, tick bite prevention and tick distribution. CDC also has additional&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDMsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNkYy5nb3YvdmVjdG9yLWJvcm5lLWRpc2Vhc2VzL3ByZXZlbnRpb24vaW5kZXguaHRtbD91dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9Z292ZGVsaXZlcnkiLCJidWxsZXRpbl9pZCI6IjIwMjQwNjI0Ljk2NjYyNzgxIn0.yGt3gxaLyrz3ZHSbQCiGxYbx5lwV67iLAcdema_wEwo/s/1305913448/br/244644434860-l">information about vector-borne diseases on their website.</a>

KDHE: Increased tick, mosquito diseases identified in Kansas

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. Since then, thousands of Missourians sought other ways to access the medical procedure

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>

When Missouri outlawed abortion two years ago, Nicole was far more worried for her grown children than for herself.&nbsp;

It had been two decades since she last gave birth, when she suffered a serious stroke during labor followed by severe postpartum depression. She was outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, but pregnancy was in Nicole’s past.

That changed a couple weeks later, when her IUD failed.&nbsp;

“Are you kidding me?” she recalls thinking, looking around at the life she and her husband had built together in southwest Missouri.

In her 40s and living in a state where virtually every abortion is now banned, Nicole — who asked to only be identified by her middle name for fear of prosecution — was among the first of thousands of Missouri women forced to navigate abortion access in a post-Roe world.&nbsp;

On June 24, 2022, Missouri became the first state in the country to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, striking down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. The Republican-run state quickly enacted its trigger law banning all abortions with limited exceptions in cases of medical emergencies.

In the two years since, countless women like Nicole have faced already tough decisions made more excruciating by having to find discreet ways to manage their own health or travel far from home for care.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Missouri already had some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country, pushing most women seeking access to the procedure out of state. But the end of Roe raised the stakes, leaving women in Missouri — which already has some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country — fearful that in the most extreme cases, the ban could mean their death.&nbsp;

Last year, approximately 2,860 Missourians traveled to Kansas last year for abortions, and 8,710 traveled to Illinois,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://guttmacherinstitute.github.io/provision-dashboard/">according to the Guttmacher Institute,</a>&nbsp;a reproductive rights research group that closely tracks abortion data. But they made up only about 10% of the total abortion patients in each state.

After Dobbs, Missourians’ access to care in states like Kansas and Illinois became precarious as abortion bans became more widespread.

“In a matter of months, we started serving patients from Texas and Arkansas and Oklahoma,” Emily Wales, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said of the time immediately following the Dobbs decision. “Missourians had to really compete for too few appointments.”

The longer wait times at clinics and barriers to traveling for abortions has led Missourians to increasingly consider self-managed abortions.

That includes Nicole, who received an envelope at home marked with international postage containing Mifepristone and Misoprostol after consulting an online doctor she found through Plan C, an abortion-pill provider.

Missourians navigate abortion access after Dobbs

For Nicole, the decision to end her most recent pregnancy was simple. To continue felt unsafe, she said, and she and her husband didn’t want to start over raising a child.&nbsp;

But the conversations that followed were kept strictly between the husband and wife.&nbsp;

With pervasive uncertainty around whether or not women could be prosecuted for self-administering medication abortions in Missouri, the stakes are higher than ever for those trying to end unwanted or medically complicated pregnancies.&nbsp;

It’s why Nicole didn’t tell her pastor at church. She didn’t tell friends or family. Nicole didn’t even tell her gynecologist, fearing she would be reported by someone in their corner of the state where anti-abortion messaging proliferates billboards, bumper stickers and handwritten signs staked into yards.

Ultimately, Nicole couldn’t imagine fleeing her state for the procedure. She wanted to be home.&nbsp;

“I felt really angry that I would have to leave my community,” she said. “It’s not a shameful thing, it’s a procedure. It’s a medical health care procedure.”

In the six months after the Dobbs decision, the number of&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/03/25/more-than-26000-self-managed-abortions-may-have-occurred-post-dobbs-study-shows/">self-managed medication abortions rose&nbsp;</a>by more than 26,000 across the U.S. according to a<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2024.4266?utm_campaign=articlePDF%26utm_medium=articlePDFlink%26utm_source=articlePDF%26utm_content=jama.2024.4266">&nbsp;study</a>&nbsp;published in JAMA, the American Medical Association’s journal.

While medication abortions are overall very safe, effective and approved by the FDA to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks, there is some risk associated with any medication. Self-managing an abortion alone, without a local medical provider’s guidance,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2024/abortion-pill-experience-stories/?itid=ap_carolinekitchener">can be nerve-wracking.</a>

In the unlikely situation that Nicole started hemorrhaging, she and her husband mapped out the closest Kansas hospital that would have the level of care they needed.&nbsp;

When the time came, they both took a day off work and snuggled on the couch. Nicole pressed a heating pad to her abdomen to soothe the cramps, which she described as similar to period pains. Then came the relief.

After the abortion, her husband got a vasectomy. She kept the IUD. Despite their precautions, sex is now accompanied by paranoia as Nicole counts down the days to her period each month.&nbsp;

She ordered extra abortion medication in case anyone she knows might need it. And despite the nearly two years since her abortion, Nicole said she still can’t shake the absurdity she felt hunkering down in her home that day.

“I make decisions for myself every day, and I make good decisions,” she said. “The audacity that people think I can’t make the best healthcare decisions for myself — it’s hard for me to put into words how upsetting it is.”

Stories of women desperate to end their pregnancies proliferate the internet.&nbsp;

<a target="_blank" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/online-abortion-resource-squad-advice-disinformation.html">Reddit is increasingly a gathering place&nbsp;</a>for those seeking answers and assurance. Many of the posts — all anonymous — illustrate how terrified many Missourians are.&nbsp;

In one post from mid-June, a 23-year-old woman from Missouri feared she was pregnant by her abusive boyfriend but didn’t have the money to travel for an abortion.

“I will drink an entire bottle of vodka if I have to idc,” she wrote. Other anonymous users quickly took to the page to offer other solutions.

In a 2023 post, someone inquired about getting an abortion for their pregnant 15-year-old sister in Missouri without parental consent.&nbsp;

“This experience is causing her to have suicidal thoughts, crippling anxiety, and extreme depression,” the user wrote. “All of which she already had before this. I need help. I am desperate. I do not want to lose my baby sister.”

Even for those who work in abortion-rights advocacy, navigating an abortion post-Roe is anxiety-inducing.

Maggie Olivia first got pregnant while living in St. Louis in 2020. She was on birth control at the time.&nbsp;

Because of Missouri’s “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, including mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and a surgical abortion, she was encouraged to go to a Planned Parenthood in Illinois.

It was clinic escorts with Abortion Action Missouri who guided Olivia into her appointment just across the Mississippi River and reassured her ahead of the procedure. She was so moved by their kindness that Olivia went on to volunteer with the group, and now serves as a senior policy manager with the abortion-rights group.

In the months after the Dobbs decision, Olivia, like many in abortion advocacy work, was navigating the ever-changing landscape of abortion access. At the same time, Olivia said she was mistakenly denied her birth control prescription by a pharmacist after switching contraceptive methods.&nbsp;

When a pregnancy test came back positive several weeks later, Olivia’s first call was to her boss, who she said offered immediate support and guidance.&nbsp;

“But even that close proximity to the reality of the crisis doesn’t make being pregnant when you don’t want to be any less horrifying,” she said.&nbsp;

Unlike with her first pregnancy, Olivia decided not to tell her health care providers in Missouri.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But after ending up in the emergency room for unrelated reasons, her pregnancy was noted in her records. Months later, Olivia said she was denied access to an unrelated medication because her medical records said she was pregnant, compounding the fear she already had of being punished in some way for having an abortion, however legal, in Illinois.

“It was very upsetting,” Olivia said. “And I had thought that I had taken steps to be precautious.”

When she had her second abortion at the same Illinois clinic from two years prior, she also had an IUD placed.

“Your access to abortion doesn’t need to be attached to some traumatic, horrifying situation in of itself,” Olivia said. “Being pregnant when you don’t want to be is scary enough, is horrifying enough.”

When a sonographer approaches Dr. Jennifer Smith, a St. Louis OB-GYN, her heart drops.

“Every time I look at a fetal ultrasound, it takes on new intensity and new anxiety,” she said, concerned that her patient will have a diagnosis they can’t be of help with in Missouri.&nbsp;

Missouri physicians are balancing medically complex pregnant patients with&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/04/missouri-ob-gyn-residents-maternal-health-abortion/">legal restrictions that could land them in prison</a>&nbsp;for up to 15 years if they perform an abortion the state finds was unnecessary, and, therefore, illegal.&nbsp;

No providers have been prosecuted at this point, but the ways something could go wrong keep Smith up at night. So, too, does the future of not only maternal health care, but also motherhood in Missouri.

“Missouri women are afraid to be pregnant in Missouri,” Smith said. “They are so worried that they might die while pregnant, or that they may get pregnant with a baby with anomalies and have no options because they live in Missouri.”

While Smith is often helping women who want to be pregnant, a couple miles across the river in Illinois sits the regional logistics center for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. There, three patient navigators help those trying to end their pregnancies.&nbsp;

Kenicia Page, the call center manager, said she saw a tremendous increase in callers from the West Palm Beach area, more than 1,100 miles south, when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/04/30/florida-is-one-day-away-of-becoming-the-latest-state-to-enact-a-rigid-six-week-abortion-ban/">Florida’s ban went into place on May 1</a>.

Right now, she says the clinic receives about 100 calls a day.&nbsp;&nbsp;

They act as pseudo travel planners and financial aid counselors, helping book transportation and finding funding for patients.&nbsp;

Despite the comparative proximity, transportation can still be a headache for some Missourians, particularly those in rural parts of the state without access to public transportation like Greyhound buses or Amtrak, Page said. Sometimes, when the patient doesn’t have a vehicle, nor access to public transportation or car rental services, their next best option is to rent a U-Haul to drive to their appointment.

But more often, Page said, she hears from Missourians trying to find and afford child care, or from minors who need a legal guardian to give consent for financial assistance. Some days Page still finds herself breaking the news to Missouri callers that abortion is illegal within their state borders, and that they will likely have to take a multi-day trip to Illinois to get care.

Page recently spoke with a woman who was homeless and living in a hotel with her children. She had no child-care options, nor a place to stay after the procedure. Page’s team helped connect the woman to funders who assisted with the day care fees and made sure she had a safe place to recover overnight in Illinois.&nbsp;

Their work is done when they get the final call or text from a patient saying they’ve returned home safely.&nbsp;

“It gives you that extra energy or extra push, determination, to continue to do what you do,” Page said. “Because it is definitely making a difference.”

Alison Dreith’s hotline through Midwest Access Coalition, an abortion fund based in Illinois, used to serve a majority of Missouri clients. As of mid-June, only 26 of the total 1,052 callers this year were from Missouri. Now most of her calls come from Texas, Indiana and Tennessee as patients from red states crowd clinics in Illinois and Kansas.&nbsp;

“Every time a new state goes,” Dreith said, “it has the ripple effect that reaches the Midwest.”

The need for child care is a refrain for patients, particularly lower-income Missourians,traveling to Kansas overnight for the procedure, said Wales, with Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

The short drive from Kansas City to Wyandotte or Johnson counties in Kansas has expanded from a fissure to a canyon for some patients. Those requesting medication abortions are usually seen within a week, but patients needing in-clinic abortions can wait two or three weeks to be seen, Wales said.

“We have to explain that we may be close to you, but we are seeing patients from around the region,” she said. “It doesn’t make it easier, necessarily, to get an appointment.”

Wales said many patients are also coming to them later in gestational age, and increasingly with fetal abnormalities. This is a theme across the country,&nbsp;as patients work to find an appointment, save up money and arrange time off work.

Because of the increase in demand, Planned Parenthood Great Plains will soon start seeing patients for abortions in Pittsburg, making it the fourth Kansas clinic to offer the procedure. She hopes that will cut down on drive times for Missourians in regions including Joplin and Springfield.

Julie&nbsp;Burkhart, co-owner of Hope Clinic, an abortion provider in Granite City, Illinois, has seen the number of Missourians served at her clinic more than triple since 2019. But even so, the percentage of total patients from Missouri has gone from more than 60% to less than half as patients from 28 states made their way to her clinic near the Mississippi River last year.

Wait times hover between one and two weeks.&nbsp;In May, the clinic saw 732 abortion patients; 45 were from Missouri.&nbsp;

Funding needs have skyrocketed since Roe fell, and she’s seen the number of Missouri patients seeking abortions in their second trimester increase to 17% this year. Before Roe, it was closer to 8% for all patients.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238087294.png" alt="The message “You are not alone, support is here” is painted on the window of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>The message “You are not alone, support is here” is painted on the window of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. Since then, thousands of Missourians sought other ways to access the medical procedure</h2>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>When Missouri outlawed abortion two years ago, Nicole was far more worried for her grown children than for herself.&nbsp;It had been two decades since she last gave birth, when she suffered a serious stroke during labor followed by severe postpartum depression. She was outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, but pregnancy was in Nicole’s past.That changed a couple weeks later, when her IUD failed.&nbsp;“Are you kidding me?” she recalls thinking, looking around at the life she and her husband had built together in southwest Missouri.In her 40s and living in a state where virtually every abortion is now banned, Nicole — who asked to only be identified by her middle name for fear of prosecution — was among the first of thousands of Missouri women forced to navigate abortion access in a post-Roe world.&nbsp;On June 24, 2022, Missouri became the first state in the country to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, striking down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. The Republican-run state quickly enacted its trigger law banning all abortions with limited exceptions in cases of medical emergencies.In the two years since, countless women like Nicole have faced already tough decisions made more excruciating by having to find discreet ways to manage their own health or travel far from home for care.&nbsp;&nbsp;Missouri already had some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country, pushing most women seeking access to the procedure out of state. But the end of Roe raised the stakes, leaving women in Missouri — which already has some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country — fearful that in the most extreme cases, the ban could mean their death.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238134991.png" alt=" A recovery room at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains office is pictured on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> A recovery room at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains office is pictured on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Last year, approximately 2,860 Missourians traveled to Kansas last year for abortions, and 8,710 traveled to Illinois,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://guttmacherinstitute.github.io/provision-dashboard/">according to the Guttmacher Institute,</a>&nbsp;a reproductive rights research group that closely tracks abortion data. But they made up only about 10% of the total abortion patients in each state.After Dobbs, Missourians’ access to care in states like Kansas and Illinois became precarious as abortion bans became more widespread.“In a matter of months, we started serving patients from Texas and Arkansas and Oklahoma,” Emily Wales, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said of the time immediately following the Dobbs decision. “Missourians had to really compete for too few appointments.”The longer wait times at clinics and barriers to traveling for abortions has led Missourians to increasingly consider self-managed abortions.That includes Nicole, who received an envelope at home marked with international postage containing Mifepristone and Misoprostol after consulting an online doctor she found through Plan C, an abortion-pill provider.<h2>Missourians navigate abortion access after Dobbs</h2>For Nicole, the decision to end her most recent pregnancy was simple. To continue felt unsafe, she said, and she and her husband didn’t want to start over raising a child.&nbsp;But the conversations that followed were kept strictly between the husband and wife.&nbsp;With pervasive uncertainty around whether or not women could be prosecuted for self-administering medication abortions in Missouri, the stakes are higher than ever for those trying to end unwanted or medically complicated pregnancies.&nbsp;It’s why Nicole didn’t tell her pastor at church. She didn’t tell friends or family. Nicole didn’t even tell her gynecologist, fearing she would be reported by someone in their corner of the state where anti-abortion messaging proliferates billboards, bumper stickers and handwritten signs staked into yards.Ultimately, Nicole couldn’t imagine fleeing her state for the procedure. She wanted to be home.&nbsp;“I felt really angry that I would have to leave my community,” she said. “It’s not a shameful thing, it’s a procedure. It’s a medical health care procedure.”In the six months after the Dobbs decision, the number of&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/03/25/more-than-26000-self-managed-abortions-may-have-occurred-post-dobbs-study-shows/">self-managed medication abortions rose&nbsp;</a>by more than 26,000 across the U.S. according to a<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2024.4266?utm_campaign=articlePDF%26utm_medium=articlePDFlink%26utm_source=articlePDF%26utm_content=jama.2024.4266">&nbsp;study</a>&nbsp;published in JAMA, the American Medical Association’s journal.While medication abortions are overall very safe, effective and approved by the FDA to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks, there is some risk associated with any medication. Self-managing an abortion alone, without a local medical provider’s guidance,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2024/abortion-pill-experience-stories/?itid=ap_carolinekitchener">can be nerve-wracking.</a>In the unlikely situation that Nicole started hemorrhaging, she and her husband mapped out the closest Kansas hospital that would have the level of care they needed.&nbsp;When the time came, they both took a day off work and snuggled on the couch. Nicole pressed a heating pad to her abdomen to soothe the cramps, which she described as similar to period pains. Then came the relief.After the abortion, her husband got a vasectomy. She kept the IUD. Despite their precautions, sex is now accompanied by paranoia as Nicole counts down the days to her period each month.&nbsp;She ordered extra abortion medication in case anyone she knows might need it. And despite the nearly two years since her abortion, Nicole said she still can’t shake the absurdity she felt hunkering down in her home that day.“I make decisions for myself every day, and I make good decisions,” she said. “The audacity that people think I can’t make the best healthcare decisions for myself — it’s hard for me to put into words how upsetting it is.”<h2>‘I am desperate’</h2>Stories of women desperate to end their pregnancies proliferate the internet.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/online-abortion-resource-squad-advice-disinformation.html">Reddit is increasingly a gathering place&nbsp;</a>for those seeking answers and assurance. Many of the posts — all anonymous — illustrate how terrified many Missourians are.&nbsp;In one post from mid-June, a 23-year-old woman from Missouri feared she was pregnant by her abusive boyfriend but didn’t have the money to travel for an abortion.“I will drink an entire bottle of vodka if I have to idc,” she wrote. Other anonymous users quickly took to the page to offer other solutions.In a 2023 post, someone inquired about getting an abortion for their pregnant 15-year-old sister in Missouri without parental consent.&nbsp;“This experience is causing her to have suicidal thoughts, crippling anxiety, and extreme depression,” the user wrote. “All of which she already had before this. I need help. I am desperate. I do not want to lose my baby sister.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238191374.png" alt=" Instructions on what to expect during a visit to Planned Parenthood Great Plains sits on a desk in the waiting room on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Instructions on what to expect during a visit to Planned Parenthood Great Plains sits on a desk in the waiting room on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Even for those who work in abortion-rights advocacy, navigating an abortion post-Roe is anxiety-inducing.Maggie Olivia first got pregnant while living in St. Louis in 2020. She was on birth control at the time.&nbsp;Because of Missouri’s “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, including mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and a surgical abortion, she was encouraged to go to a Planned Parenthood in Illinois.It was clinic escorts with Abortion Action Missouri who guided Olivia into her appointment just across the Mississippi River and reassured her ahead of the procedure. She was so moved by their kindness that Olivia went on to volunteer with the group, and now serves as a senior policy manager with the abortion-rights group.In the months after the Dobbs decision, Olivia, like many in abortion advocacy work, was navigating the ever-changing landscape of abortion access. At the same time, Olivia said she was mistakenly denied her birth control prescription by a pharmacist after switching contraceptive methods.&nbsp;When a pregnancy test came back positive several weeks later, Olivia’s first call was to her boss, who she said offered immediate support and guidance.&nbsp;“But even that close proximity to the reality of the crisis doesn’t make being pregnant when you don’t want to be any less horrifying,” she said.&nbsp;Unlike with her first pregnancy, Olivia decided not to tell her health care providers in Missouri.&nbsp;&nbsp;But after ending up in the emergency room for unrelated reasons, her pregnancy was noted in her records. Months later, Olivia said she was denied access to an unrelated medication because her medical records said she was pregnant, compounding the fear she already had of being punished in some way for having an abortion, however legal, in Illinois.“It was very upsetting,” Olivia said. “And I had thought that I had taken steps to be precautious.”When she had her second abortion at the same Illinois clinic from two years prior, she also had an IUD placed.“Your access to abortion doesn’t need to be attached to some traumatic, horrifying situation in of itself,” Olivia said. “Being pregnant when you don’t want to be is scary enough, is horrifying enough.”<h2>Higher stakes for providers</h2>When a sonographer approaches Dr. Jennifer Smith, a St. Louis OB-GYN, her heart drops.“Every time I look at a fetal ultrasound, it takes on new intensity and new anxiety,” she said, concerned that her patient will have a diagnosis they can’t be of help with in Missouri.&nbsp;Missouri physicians are balancing medically complex pregnant patients with&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/04/missouri-ob-gyn-residents-maternal-health-abortion/">legal restrictions that could land them in prison</a>&nbsp;for up to 15 years if they perform an abortion the state finds was unnecessary, and, therefore, illegal.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238245511.png" alt=" Ra’Maia Dillard, an ultrasound technician at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares to see a docket of 29 patients on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Ra’Maia Dillard, an ultrasound technician at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares to see a docket of 29 patients on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>No providers have been prosecuted at this point, but the ways something could go wrong keep Smith up at night. So, too, does the future of not only maternal health care, but also motherhood in Missouri.“Missouri women are afraid to be pregnant in Missouri,” Smith said. “They are so worried that they might die while pregnant, or that they may get pregnant with a baby with anomalies and have no options because they live in Missouri.”While Smith is often helping women who want to be pregnant, a couple miles across the river in Illinois sits the regional logistics center for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. There, three patient navigators help those trying to end their pregnancies.&nbsp;Kenicia Page, the call center manager, said she saw a tremendous increase in callers from the West Palm Beach area, more than 1,100 miles south, when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/04/30/florida-is-one-day-away-of-becoming-the-latest-state-to-enact-a-rigid-six-week-abortion-ban/">Florida’s ban went into place on May 1</a>.Right now, she says the clinic receives about 100 calls a day.&nbsp;&nbsp;They act as pseudo travel planners and financial aid counselors, helping book transportation and finding funding for patients.&nbsp;Despite the comparative proximity, transportation can still be a headache for some Missourians, particularly those in rural parts of the state without access to public transportation like Greyhound buses or Amtrak, Page said. Sometimes, when the patient doesn’t have a vehicle, nor access to public transportation or car rental services, their next best option is to rent a U-Haul to drive to their appointment.But more often, Page said, she hears from Missourians trying to find and afford child care, or from minors who need a legal guardian to give consent for financial assistance. Some days Page still finds herself breaking the news to Missouri callers that abortion is illegal within their state borders, and that they will likely have to take a multi-day trip to Illinois to get care.Page recently spoke with a woman who was homeless and living in a hotel with her children. She had no child-care options, nor a place to stay after the procedure. Page’s team helped connect the woman to funders who assisted with the day care fees and made sure she had a safe place to recover overnight in Illinois.&nbsp;Their work is done when they get the final call or text from a patient saying they’ve returned home safely.&nbsp;“It gives you that extra energy or extra push, determination, to continue to do what you do,” Page said. “Because it is definitely making a difference.”Alison Dreith’s hotline through Midwest Access Coalition, an abortion fund based in Illinois, used to serve a majority of Missouri clients. As of mid-June, only 26 of the total 1,052 callers this year were from Missouri. Now most of her calls come from Texas, Indiana and Tennessee as patients from red states crowd clinics in Illinois and Kansas.&nbsp;“Every time a new state goes,” Dreith said, “it has the ripple effect that reaches the Midwest.”The need for child care is a refrain for patients, particularly lower-income Missourians,traveling to Kansas overnight for the procedure, said Wales, with Planned Parenthood Great Plains.The short drive from Kansas City to Wyandotte or Johnson counties in Kansas has expanded from a fissure to a canyon for some patients. Those requesting medication abortions are usually seen within a week, but patients needing in-clinic abortions can wait two or three weeks to be seen, Wales said.“We have to explain that we may be close to you, but we are seeing patients from around the region,” she said. “It doesn’t make it easier, necessarily, to get an appointment.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238288919.png" alt=" Denise Baker, a reproductive health assistant at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares patient paperwork behind the clinic’s front desk on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas(Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Denise Baker, a reproductive health assistant at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares patient paperwork behind the clinic’s front desk on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas(Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Wales said many patients are also coming to them later in gestational age, and increasingly with fetal abnormalities. This is a theme across the country,&nbsp;as patients work to find an appointment, save up money and arrange time off work.Because of the increase in demand, Planned Parenthood Great Plains will soon start seeing patients for abortions in Pittsburg, making it the fourth Kansas clinic to offer the procedure. She hopes that will cut down on drive times for Missourians in regions including Joplin and Springfield.Julie&nbsp;Burkhart, co-owner of Hope Clinic, an abortion provider in Granite City, Illinois, has seen the number of Missourians served at her clinic more than triple since 2019. But even so, the percentage of total patients from Missouri has gone from more than 60% to less than half as patients from 28 states made their way to her clinic near the Mississippi River last year.Wait times hover between one and two weeks.&nbsp;In May, the clinic saw 732 abortion patients; 45 were from Missouri.&nbsp;Funding needs have skyrocketed since Roe fell, and she’s seen the number of Missouri patients seeking abortions in their second trimester increase to 17% this year. Before Roe, it was closer to 8% for all patients.

2 years after Mo. banned abortion, navigating access still involves fear, confusion

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Law enforcement authorities are investigating another deadly shooting in Kansas City.

Just after 1p.m. June 21, police responded to the 8400 block of Wabash, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Officers were directed to an area with overgrown brush, where they found 48-year-old Larry D. Boyd unresponsive and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He&nbsp;was pronounced dead on the scene.

Police have not released suspect details or additional information.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719191315137.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Law enforcement authorities are investigating another deadly shooting in Kansas City.Just after 1p.m. June 21, police responded to the 8400 block of Wabash, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719191256338.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers were directed to an area with overgrown brush, where they found 48-year-old Larry D. Boyd unresponsive and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He&nbsp;was pronounced dead on the scene.Police have not released suspect details or additional information.

KCPD IDs man found shot to death in overgrown brush 

FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas felon wanted in connection to two robberies that occurred on June 18 in Garden City is in custody, according to Garden City Police.&nbsp;

On Monday morning Carlos Macias, Jr, 31, was taken into custody in Liberal.

&nbsp;He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of robberies in southwest Kansas and asking the public for help to locate 31-year-old&nbsp; Carlos Macias Jr., according to a media release from Garden City Police.

 Macias Jr. is wanted in connection with several robberies that occurred in Garden City on June 18. 

Macias Jr. is known to drive a tan 2001 Dodge Ram pickup with a Kansas temporary tag D619275.&nbsp; He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

If located or if you have information on Macias Jr., please call the Garden City Police Department at (620) 276-1300.&nbsp;Never attempt to apprehend a fugitive yourself

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at (620) 275-7807, or text your tip to Garden City PD, text GCTIP and your tip to Tip411 (847411).&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719061089837.png" alt="Macias-photo Garden City Police" />
 <figcaption>Macias-photo Garden City Police</figcaption>
 </figure>FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas felon wanted in connection to two robberies that occurred on June 18 in Garden City is in custody, according to Garden City Police.&nbsp;On Monday morning Carlos Macias, Jr, 31, was taken into custody in Liberal.&nbsp;He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.--------------------FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of robberies in southwest Kansas and asking the public for help to locate 31-year-old&nbsp; Carlos Macias Jr., according to a media release from Garden City Police. Macias Jr. is wanted in connection with several robberies that occurred in Garden City on June 18. Macias Jr. is known to drive a tan 2001 Dodge Ram pickup with a Kansas temporary tag D619275.&nbsp; He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.If located or if you have information on Macias Jr., please call the Garden City Police Department at (620) 276-1300.&nbsp;Never attempt to apprehend a fugitive yourselfIf you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at (620) 275-7807, or text your tip to Garden City PD, text GCTIP and your tip to Tip411 (847411).&nbsp;

Police capture Kansas felon wanted for alleged robberies 

By NICK GOSNELL Hutch Post

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said the short to medium term does not look good for the agricultural areas of the Midwest. 

"It doesn't look good with the, particularly in terms of exports, exports of agricultural products and livestock, that's not good, and it's just, but long term, beyond the short to intermediate term, you've got to be positive," Goss said. "I expect farmland prices to move higher again once we get over this blip that we're currently seeing, and what we're seeing in terms, back to the interest rates, we're looking at home, the mortgage rates, 30-year mortgage rates, double what they were a couple of years ago, and thus those who are in current homes with these low interest rates, they're staying in their homes."

Goss does expect interest rate relief relatively soon, though.

"They're taking a wait-and-see approach," Goss said. "This is what I expect, I expect a rate cut in either July or in September. There's too much weakness out there right now. In other words, the job numbers that we've been getting, the establishment numbers are wrong, I'll just say that. They're not correct and also there's a lot of part-time jobs, a lot of multiple job holders, so it's over, we're overstating the strength in the job market."

It's also possible that government spending could continue to prop up the economy, as it has for the last couple of years.

"I don't hear any politicians out there talking about cutting," Goss said. "They're all talking about increasing it at the best, and maybe perhaps significant increases, and a lot will depend on the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has been, they have bought the bonds that are issued to support the debt, and we'll have to wait and see what the Fed does there, but the Federal Reserve has gone slower. They've been in what's called quantitative tightening, and they've lessened or pulled back on that quantitative tightening. So even the Federal Reserve is starting to see, and a lot of their talk now, I think, is reflecting what they see, which is a weaker economy."

Goss said that in the long run, we can't have the government being the major component of growth in our economy.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/4/1712588059270.jpg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostCreighton University economist Ernie Goss said the short to medium term does not look good for the agricultural areas of the Midwest. "It doesn't look good with the, particularly in terms of exports, exports of agricultural products and livestock, that's not good, and it's just, but long term, beyond the short to intermediate term, you've got to be positive," Goss said. "I expect farmland prices to move higher again once we get over this blip that we're currently seeing, and what we're seeing in terms, back to the interest rates, we're looking at home, the mortgage rates, 30-year mortgage rates, double what they were a couple of years ago, and thus those who are in current homes with these low interest rates, they're staying in their homes."Goss does expect interest rate relief relatively soon, though."They're taking a wait-and-see approach," Goss said. "This is what I expect, I expect a rate cut in either July or in September. There's too much weakness out there right now. In other words, the job numbers that we've been getting, the establishment numbers are wrong, I'll just say that. They're not correct and also there's a lot of part-time jobs, a lot of multiple job holders, so it's over, we're overstating the strength in the job market."It's also possible that government spending could continue to prop up the economy, as it has for the last couple of years."I don't hear any politicians out there talking about cutting," Goss said. "They're all talking about increasing it at the best, and maybe perhaps significant increases, and a lot will depend on the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has been, they have bought the bonds that are issued to support the debt, and we'll have to wait and see what the Fed does there, but the Federal Reserve has gone slower. They've been in what's called quantitative tightening, and they've lessened or pulled back on that quantitative tightening. So even the Federal Reserve is starting to see, and a lot of their talk now, I think, is reflecting what they see, which is a weaker economy."Goss said that in the long run, we can't have the government being the major component of growth in our economy.

Economist: Short to medium term does not look good for Midwest

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">The Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-transgender-gender-affirming-care-ban-f58714b70298e2eb65ce833c2d4ae3b9">state bans on gender-affirming care</a>.

The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/title-ix-lawsuit-states-bathrooms-lawsuit-f731ff2f1afd24a1f246443f12053bcc">a new federal regulation</a>&nbsp;that seeks to protect transgender students.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-genderaffirming-care-supreme-court-a04ab2f808175dbca1be6d90fe575611">The case before the high court</a>&nbsp;involves a law in Tennessee that restrict puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed laws in Tennessee and Kentucky to take effect after they had been blocked by lower courts. (The high court did not act on a separate appeal from Kentucky.)

“Without this Court’s prompt intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, uncertain of whether and where they can access needed medical care,” lawyers for the transgender teens in Tennessee told the justices.

Actor Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy,” was among 57 transgender people who joined a legal filing in support of Supreme Court review.

Last month, South Carolina became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-minors-gender-affirming-south-carolina-49edeee22eab31574316a13ab874b623">the 25th state</a>&nbsp;to adopt a law restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even though such treatments have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.

Most of the state restrictions face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-arkansas-court-c299aa1db823fdeda5b1e0b457a7a9b5">lawsuits</a>. The justices had previously&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-transgender-health-idaho-f858bcce9a624ec79edc496414f2130f">allowed Idaho</a>&nbsp;to generally enforce its restrictions, after they had been blocked by lower courts.

At least 24 states have laws barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls' sports competitions. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.

The nation's highest court has only rarely taken up transgender issues. In 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-5a7b0e41a47a3c571dda69194758e7b1">the justices ruled</a>&nbsp;that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.

In 2016, the court had agreed to take up the case of a transgender student, backed by the Obama administration, who was barred from using the boys' bathroom in his Virginia high school. But the court dropped the case after a directive advising schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not biological birth, was scrapped in the early months of the Trump administration. The directive had been a key part of an appeals court ruling in favor of the student, Gavin Grimm.

In 2021, the justices declined to get involved in Grimm's case after the appeals court again ruled in his favor. At the time, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted they would have taken up the school board's appeal.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">The Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-transgender-gender-affirming-care-ban-f58714b70298e2eb65ce833c2d4ae3b9">state bans on gender-affirming care</a>.The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/title-ix-lawsuit-states-bathrooms-lawsuit-f731ff2f1afd24a1f246443f12053bcc">a new federal regulation</a>&nbsp;that seeks to protect transgender students.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-genderaffirming-care-supreme-court-a04ab2f808175dbca1be6d90fe575611">The case before the high court</a>&nbsp;involves a law in Tennessee that restrict puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed laws in Tennessee and Kentucky to take effect after they had been blocked by lower courts. (The high court did not act on a separate appeal from Kentucky.)“Without this Court’s prompt intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, uncertain of whether and where they can access needed medical care,” lawyers for the transgender teens in Tennessee told the justices.Actor Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy,” was among 57 transgender people who joined a legal filing in support of Supreme Court review.Arguments will take place in the fall.Last month, South Carolina became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-minors-gender-affirming-south-carolina-49edeee22eab31574316a13ab874b623">the 25th state</a>&nbsp;to adopt a law restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even though such treatments have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.Most of the state restrictions face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-arkansas-court-c299aa1db823fdeda5b1e0b457a7a9b5">lawsuits</a>. The justices had previously&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-transgender-health-idaho-f858bcce9a624ec79edc496414f2130f">allowed Idaho</a>&nbsp;to generally enforce its restrictions, after they had been blocked by lower courts.At least 24 states have laws barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls' sports competitions. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.The nation's highest court has only rarely taken up transgender issues. In 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-5a7b0e41a47a3c571dda69194758e7b1">the justices ruled</a>&nbsp;that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.In 2016, the court had agreed to take up the case of a transgender student, backed by the Obama administration, who was barred from using the boys' bathroom in his Virginia high school. But the court dropped the case after a directive advising schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not biological birth, was scrapped in the early months of the Trump administration. The directive had been a key part of an appeals court ruling in favor of the student, Gavin Grimm.In 2021, the justices declined to get involved in Grimm's case after the appeals court again ruled in his favor. At the time, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted they would have taken up the school board's appeal.___

Supreme Court to weigh state restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors

CLOUD COUNTY—A Manhattan man died in an accident just before 10p.m. Sunday in Cloud County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford Econoline van driven by Marco&nbsp;Lopez, 47, Kansas City, Missouri, was westbound on U.S. 24 five and one half miles west of Miltonvale.

The van traveled into the eastbound lane and struck a 2015 Yamaha motorcycle driven by James Ray&nbsp; Dille, 63, Manhattan. After impact the motorcycle came to rest in the south ditch. The van entered the south ditch, struck a power pole and came to rest in a field.

Dille was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported Chaput-Buoy Funeral Home. Lopez and two passengers in the van were not injured.&nbsp; Dille was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

CLOUD COUNTY—A Manhattan man died in an accident just before 10p.m. Sunday in Cloud County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford Econoline van driven by Marco&nbsp;Lopez, 47, Kansas City, Missouri, was westbound on U.S. 24 five and one half miles west of Miltonvale.The van traveled into the eastbound lane and struck a 2015 Yamaha motorcycle driven by James Ray&nbsp; Dille, 63, Manhattan. After impact the motorcycle came to rest in the south ditch. The van entered the south ditch, struck a power pole and came to rest in a field.Dille was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported Chaput-Buoy Funeral Home. Lopez and two passengers in the van were not injured.&nbsp; Dille was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after van strikes a motorcycle

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Police are asking the public for help to find a Kansas man accused in a deadly gunfight on Father's Day.

The Wichita Police are working to locate 33-year-old Eric Gonzalez-Gutierrez, who is wanted for violating his pre-trial restrictions.&nbsp;On Friday, he cut his ankle monitor, according to Wichita Police.

On June 16, police arrested Gonzalez-Gutierrez on requested charges including first-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Aron Lara.

Just after 8:30p.m. on Father's Day, police responded to a shooting incident in the 1900 block of N. Jackson Street in Wichita, according to Police spokesman Andrew Ford.

While working to gather further information, the 911 dispatcher could hear gunfire in the background, prompting an immediate upgraded dispatch of officers to the scene.

First responders discovered Lara suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Sedgwick County EMS provided initial critical care at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital where he died.

Another victim, a 22-year-old Hispanic man, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot to the arm and was privately transported to St. Francis Hospital.

The incident occurred during a neighborhood barbecue in observance of Father's Day. According to preliminary reports, Lara, was involved in a verbal altercation with the Gonzales-Gutierrez earlier in the evening.&nbsp; Gonzales-Gutierrez allegedly returned home, retrieved a rifle, and fired upon the victim, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

It is believed that two men accompanying Lara returned fire, resulting in injuries to the second victim.

If you have any information on Gonzalez-Gutierrez whereabouts, please call 911 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407. To provide anonymous tips call 316-267-2111 or scan the code above.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718711572362.png" alt="GONZALES-GUTIERREZ-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>GONZALES-GUTIERREZ-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Police are asking the public for help to find a Kansas man accused in a deadly gunfight on Father's Day.The Wichita Police are working to locate 33-year-old Eric Gonzalez-Gutierrez, who is wanted for violating his pre-trial restrictions.&nbsp;On Friday, he cut his ankle monitor, according to Wichita Police.On June 16, police arrested Gonzalez-Gutierrez on requested charges including first-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Aron Lara.Just after 8:30p.m. on Father's Day, police responded to a shooting incident in the 1900 block of N. Jackson Street in Wichita, according to Police spokesman Andrew Ford.While working to gather further information, the 911 dispatcher could hear gunfire in the background, prompting an immediate upgraded dispatch of officers to the scene.First responders discovered Lara suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Sedgwick County EMS provided initial critical care at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital where he died.Another victim, a 22-year-old Hispanic man, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot to the arm and was privately transported to St. Francis Hospital.The incident occurred during a neighborhood barbecue in observance of Father's Day. According to preliminary reports, Lara, was involved in a verbal altercation with the Gonzales-Gutierrez earlier in the evening.&nbsp; Gonzales-Gutierrez allegedly returned home, retrieved a rifle, and fired upon the victim, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting.It is believed that two men accompanying Lara returned fire, resulting in injuries to the second victim.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719004330105.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>If you have any information on Gonzalez-Gutierrez whereabouts, please call 911 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407. To provide anonymous tips call 316-267-2111 or scan the code above.

Suspect in deadly Kansas BBQ gunfight still missing

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a single-vehicle accident that critically injured two children.

Just before 11:30p.m. Saturday, a Dodge Charger was westbound on 23rd Street at Stark Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to&nbsp;.Officer Alayna Gonzalez

The driver lost control and the car traveled off the road. The vehicle struck a roadway sign, shearing it off at the base, and started flipping over.

 The car crossed over the eastbound lanes of 23rd Street, struck the rock wall and landed on its wheels.

 An unrestrained 2-year-old and 13-year-old were ejected from the vehicle. A 10-year-old and an adult female passenger, although unrestrained, remained in the back seat of the car.

 The driver, who was not injured in the collision, was taken into custody for alleged impairment. EMS transported the toddler and&nbsp; teen to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries.&nbsp; Police released no additional details.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a single-vehicle accident that critically injured two children.Just before 11:30p.m. Saturday, a Dodge Charger was westbound on 23rd Street at Stark Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to&nbsp;.Officer Alayna GonzalezThe driver lost control and the car traveled off the road. The vehicle struck a roadway sign, shearing it off at the base, and started flipping over. The car crossed over the eastbound lanes of 23rd Street, struck the rock wall and landed on its wheels. An unrestrained 2-year-old and 13-year-old were ejected from the vehicle. A 10-year-old and an adult female passenger, although unrestrained, remained in the back seat of the car. The driver, who was not injured in the collision, was taken into custody for alleged impairment. EMS transported the toddler and&nbsp; teen to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries.&nbsp; Police released no additional details.

KCPD: Driver arrested after toddler, teen ejected in crash

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a deadly shooting have identified the victim as Justin R. Diaz, 26, Raymore, Missouri.

Just before noon June 19, police were dispatched to report of a shooting in the 2000 block of N. 33rd Terrace in Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release. When officers arrived, they found Diaz outside with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit. Police have not released suspect details or reported an arrest.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.There is nothing further to report at this time.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a deadly shooting have identified the victim as Justin R. Diaz, 26, Raymore, Missouri.Just before noon June 19, police were dispatched to report of a shooting in the 2000 block of N. 33rd Terrace in Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release. When officers arrived, they found Diaz outside with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit. Police have not released suspect details or reported an arrest.Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.There is nothing further to report at this time.

Homicide: Police ID victim in Kansas shooting

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An aerial drone launched by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Yemen's Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea on Sunday, officials said, the latest attack by the group targeting shipping in the vital maritime corridor.

The attack comes as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">the U.S. has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back home</a>&nbsp;after an eight-month deployment in which it lead the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.

The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board “were reported safe.” It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage to the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owner bulk carrier, but said an investigation was ongoing.

Hours after the attack, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack, saying the rebels targeted the Transworld Navigator. Saree claimed without offering evidence the rebels instead used a drone boat in the attack, something contradicted by every other report on the assault.

The U.S. military's Central Command also identified the vessel by the same name, saying several mariners on board suffered minor injuries from the attack.

The Transworld Navigator “most recently docked in Malaysia and was en route to Egypt,” Central Command said. “This marks the fourth attack by Iranian-backed Houthis on the” vessel.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks</a>&nbsp;targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-red-sea-ship-yemen-houthis-65b611ff878a411900037e7c9a8ee17b">seized one vessel</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/houthi-rebels-ship-attack-red-sea-yemen-bfa7d321e55c5bb59b268b82ef3c56ba">sunk two</a>&nbsp;since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-war-us-british-airstrikes-israel-hamas-12f99b7afc389a703f8dd333f2376b20">a series of strikes May 30</a>&nbsp;killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war — including those bound for the Houthis' main benefactor, Iran.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn69/">Eisenhower</a>, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-aircraft-carrier-houthi-attacks-red-sea-87e18d297b24e173da01b0ae1182ab6c">an over eight-month deployment</a>&nbsp;in combat that the Navy says is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-navy-yemen-houthis-israel-war-7a9997f9d84ac669fae69ecf819913fb">its most intense since World War II</a>. The San Diego-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/USS-Theodore-Roosevelt-CVN-71/">USS Theodore Roosevelt</a>&nbsp;will take the Eisenhower’s place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-south-korea-japan-nuclear-26fd868eab68e56b207f4e6b1ecf45c4">The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul’s ongoing tensions with North Korea</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/11/1699124273212.png" alt="File photo&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">USS Dwight D. Eisenhower</a>&nbsp;photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">USS Dwight D. Eisenhower</a>&nbsp;photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An aerial drone launched by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Yemen's Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea on Sunday, officials said, the latest attack by the group targeting shipping in the vital maritime corridor.The attack comes as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">the U.S. has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back home</a>&nbsp;after an eight-month deployment in which it lead the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board “were reported safe.” It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage to the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owner bulk carrier, but said an investigation was ongoing.Hours after the attack, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack, saying the rebels targeted the Transworld Navigator. Saree claimed without offering evidence the rebels instead used a drone boat in the attack, something contradicted by every other report on the assault.The U.S. military's Central Command also identified the vessel by the same name, saying several mariners on board suffered minor injuries from the attack.The Transworld Navigator “most recently docked in Malaysia and was en route to Egypt,” Central Command said. “This marks the fourth attack by Iranian-backed Houthis on the” vessel.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks</a>&nbsp;targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-red-sea-ship-yemen-houthis-65b611ff878a411900037e7c9a8ee17b">seized one vessel</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/houthi-rebels-ship-attack-red-sea-yemen-bfa7d321e55c5bb59b268b82ef3c56ba">sunk two</a>&nbsp;since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-war-us-british-airstrikes-israel-hamas-12f99b7afc389a703f8dd333f2376b20">a series of strikes May 30</a>&nbsp;killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war — including those bound for the Houthis' main benefactor, Iran.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn69/">Eisenhower</a>, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-aircraft-carrier-houthi-attacks-red-sea-87e18d297b24e173da01b0ae1182ab6c">an over eight-month deployment</a>&nbsp;in combat that the Navy says is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-navy-yemen-houthis-israel-war-7a9997f9d84ac669fae69ecf819913fb">its most intense since World War II</a>. The San Diego-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/USS-Theodore-Roosevelt-CVN-71/">USS Theodore Roosevelt</a>&nbsp;will take the Eisenhower’s place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-south-korea-japan-nuclear-26fd868eab68e56b207f4e6b1ecf45c4">The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul’s ongoing tensions with North Korea</a>.

As U.S. sends aircraft carrier home terrorist damage another ship in Red Sea

ALLEN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 7p.m. Sunday in Allen County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Chevy Colorado driven by Donald Brian&nbsp;Gaylord, 64, Magnolia,Texas, was southbound on U.S. 169 at Minnesota Road. The pickup crossed the center line and struck a northbound 2015 Volo semi in the trailer.

Gaylord was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Country Side Funeral Home. The semi driver Luis Alberto&nbsp;Martinez San Miguel, 39, Davenport, Florida, was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

ALLEN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 7p.m. Sunday in Allen County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Chevy Colorado driven by Donald Brian&nbsp;Gaylord, 64, Magnolia,Texas, was southbound on U.S. 169 at Minnesota Road. The pickup crossed the center line and struck a northbound 2015 Volo semi in the trailer.Gaylord was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Country Side Funeral Home. The semi driver Luis Alberto&nbsp;Martinez San Miguel, 39, Davenport, Florida, was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.