BUTLER COUNTY –&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) are investigating a suspected homicide that occurred at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

Just after 5:30p.m. Tuesday, the correctional facility notified the KBI of a suspicious death.&nbsp;The investigation indicates that 40-year-old Brooks Vonthaer was found unresponsive in his cell by corrections officers at approximately 5 p.m. Vonthaer had sustained multiple fatal injuries. Medical personnel pronounced him deceased at 5:18 p.m.

A 34-year-old male suspect was identified. He is incarcerated at the facility and was Vonthaer’s cellmate. The KBI did not release the name of the cellmate.

By statute, the KBI investigates the deaths of prisoners in the custody of Kansas jails and prisons, unless the inmate who dies is being regularly attended by a physician, or the death is ruled natural by autopsy.

Once the investigation is completed, findings will be presented to the Butler County Attorney’s Office for determination of charges.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1609080609892.png" alt="Vonthaer from a Dec. 2020 arrest in Shawnee County" />
 <figcaption>Vonthaer from a Dec. 2020 arrest in Shawnee County</figcaption>
 </figure>BUTLER COUNTY –&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) are investigating a suspected homicide that occurred at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.Just after 5:30p.m. Tuesday, the correctional facility notified the KBI of a suspicious death.&nbsp;The investigation indicates that 40-year-old Brooks Vonthaer was found unresponsive in his cell by corrections officers at approximately 5 p.m. Vonthaer had sustained multiple fatal injuries. Medical personnel pronounced him deceased at 5:18 p.m.A 34-year-old male suspect was identified. He is incarcerated at the facility and was Vonthaer’s cellmate. The KBI did not release the name of the cellmate.By statute, the KBI investigates the deaths of prisoners in the custody of Kansas jails and prisons, unless the inmate who dies is being regularly attended by a physician, or the death is ruled natural by autopsy.Once the investigation is completed, findings will be presented to the Butler County Attorney’s Office for determination of charges.&nbsp;

KBI: Kansas inmate accused of killing his cellmate

REPUBLIC COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 5a.m. Wednesday in Republic County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Ford F150 driven by Xavier Clark Robison, 20, Republic, Kansas, was southbound in the northbound&nbsp;lanes of U.S. 81 four and one half miles north of Bellville.

The pickup struck a northbound 2024 International semi driven by&nbsp;Lal&nbsp; Shafi Rahman Lal Shah Mir, 34, Austin, Texas, head-on. 

Robison was pronounced dead a the scene and was transported to Bachelor-Faulkner-Dart-Surber Funeral Home.

&nbsp;EMS transported Lal Shah Mir and a passenger Rahman&nbsp;al Shahmir, Mali Rahman, 33, Austin, Texas, to the Republic County Hospital. Robison was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

REPUBLIC COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 5a.m. Wednesday in Republic County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Ford F150 driven by Xavier Clark Robison, 20, Republic, Kansas, was southbound in the northbound&nbsp;lanes of U.S. 81 four and one half miles north of Bellville.The pickup struck a northbound 2024 International semi driven by&nbsp;Lal&nbsp; Shafi Rahman Lal Shah Mir, 34, Austin, Texas, head-on. Robison was pronounced dead a the scene and was transported to Bachelor-Faulkner-Dart-Surber Funeral Home.&nbsp;EMS transported Lal Shah Mir and a passenger Rahman&nbsp;al Shahmir, Mali Rahman, 33, Austin, Texas, to the Republic County Hospital. Robison was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dead after wrong-way, head-on crash with semi

KANSAS CITY (AP) —A reporter was injured slightly Tuesday when a rifle fired by a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate during a campaign event caused metal fragments to hit the journalist in the arm.

The KSHB-TV reporter was hit in the arm by flyaway metal as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-politics-missouri-josh-hawley-united-states-government-276bc7fa34f2447e042c5fb94ac77a53">Lucas Kunce</a>, a Marine, fired an AR-15-style rifle at targets at an exurban Kansas City home.

Kunce provided first aid to the reporter, who continued covering the event. The Kansas City TV station&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kshb-41-reporter-injured-at-lucas-kunce-campaign-event">reported</a>&nbsp;the journalist later was treated for a minor injury at a local hospital.

“We had four first aid kits, so we were able to take care of the situation,” Kunce on Tuesday posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He added that he’s glad the reporter is OK.

Kunce is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley next month.

The Tuesday shooting event appears to have been designed to appeal to moderate and Republican voters in a state now defined by the GOP’s political dominance, including a strong belief in gun rights. Such events are now increasingly common&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f78805588e844602a07dcb7b5e49d8ac">tactic used by some Missouri Democrats.</a>

No Democrats serve in statewide office. Kunce’s rival, Hawley,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/29d1b3371d7e4f8da3359febaee1945e">ousted</a>&nbsp;former Democratic powerhouse Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018.

Nationally, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has not shied away from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-trump-policy-border-guns-credit-card-ivf-democrat-republican-87cd75cfa0d82b0e2b026c69278ff912">guns</a>, either. She told Oprah Winfrey last month that she owns a gun and is prepared to shoot home invaders.

Kunce later wrote on social media that he had a “great day at the range” with former Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican.

“We got to hang out with some union workers while exercising our freedom," Kunce wrote in the post that also referenced the accidental shooting.

For his part, Hawley responded jokingly to the accident.

“I condemn all acts of violence against reporters and call on Kunce never to shoot another one,” he wrote on X, ending the post with several laughing-face emojis.

This is Kunce's second bid for the U.S. Senate. He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-missouri-senate-b1a514d69210c507c0f4812550aeb80f">lost the Democratic primary</a>&nbsp;in 2022 to beer heir Trudy Busch Valentine, who went on to lose to now-Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican, in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-senate-race-2022-midterm-elections-91f950681a72abe1ea6bc20f45bf42ec">general election</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729709021542.png" alt=" Lucas Kunce applies first aid to KSHB reporter Ryan Gamboa after a bullet fragment ricocheted off a target and struck him in the arm while former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger looks on (photo: Lucas Kunce for Missouri)." />
 <figcaption> Lucas Kunce applies first aid to KSHB reporter Ryan Gamboa after a bullet fragment ricocheted off a target and struck him in the arm while former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger looks on (photo: Lucas Kunce for Missouri).</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) —A reporter was injured slightly Tuesday when a rifle fired by a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate during a campaign event caused metal fragments to hit the journalist in the arm.The KSHB-TV reporter was hit in the arm by flyaway metal as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-politics-missouri-josh-hawley-united-states-government-276bc7fa34f2447e042c5fb94ac77a53">Lucas Kunce</a>, a Marine, fired an AR-15-style rifle at targets at an exurban Kansas City home.Kunce provided first aid to the reporter, who continued covering the event. The Kansas City TV station&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kshb-41-reporter-injured-at-lucas-kunce-campaign-event">reported</a>&nbsp;the journalist later was treated for a minor injury at a local hospital.“We had four first aid kits, so we were able to take care of the situation,” Kunce on Tuesday posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He added that he’s glad the reporter is OK.Kunce is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley next month.The Tuesday shooting event appears to have been designed to appeal to moderate and Republican voters in a state now defined by the GOP’s political dominance, including a strong belief in gun rights. Such events are now increasingly common&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f78805588e844602a07dcb7b5e49d8ac">tactic used by some Missouri Democrats.</a>No Democrats serve in statewide office. Kunce’s rival, Hawley,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/29d1b3371d7e4f8da3359febaee1945e">ousted</a>&nbsp;former Democratic powerhouse Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018.Nationally, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has not shied away from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-trump-policy-border-guns-credit-card-ivf-democrat-republican-87cd75cfa0d82b0e2b026c69278ff912">guns</a>, either. She told Oprah Winfrey last month that she owns a gun and is prepared to shoot home invaders.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Great day at the range today with my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AdamKinzinger</a>. We got to hang out with some union workers while exercising our freedom. Always have your first aid kit handy. Shrapnel can always fly when you hit a target like today, and you’ve got to be ready to go. We had four first… <a href="https://t.co/Qu4YxfrtrU">pic.twitter.com/Qu4YxfrtrU</a>&mdash; Lucas Kunce (@LucasKunceMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucasKunceMO/status/1848886246749184008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Kunce later wrote on social media that he had a “great day at the range” with former Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican.“We got to hang out with some union workers while exercising our freedom," Kunce wrote in the post that also referenced the accidental shooting.For his part, Hawley responded jokingly to the accident.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I condemn all acts of violence against reporters and call on Kunce never to shoot another one 😂😂😂&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848884106077127065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“I condemn all acts of violence against reporters and call on Kunce never to shoot another one,” he wrote on X, ending the post with several laughing-face emojis.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I know the Kunce campaign needed a shot in the arm, but this is taking it a little far …&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848906167130493056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Will Kamala condemn the gun violence by Kunce and Kinzinger?&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848905255511331049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My grandma is a better shot than Lucas Kunce <a href="https://t.co/rSjnBTlWeh">pic.twitter.com/rSjnBTlWeh</a>&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848891356942344506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>This is Kunce's second bid for the U.S. Senate. He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-missouri-senate-b1a514d69210c507c0f4812550aeb80f">lost the Democratic primary</a>&nbsp;in 2022 to beer heir Trudy Busch Valentine, who went on to lose to now-Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican, in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-senate-race-2022-midterm-elections-91f950681a72abe1ea6bc20f45bf42ec">general election</a>.

KC reporter struck by bullet fragment at Dem Senate candidate campaign event

LOS ANGELES (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/75388564292e401abeeb63e708f65099">Ron Ely,</a>&nbsp;the tall, musclebound actor who played the title character in the 1960s NBC series “Tarzan,” has died at age 86.

Ely's daughter, Kirsten Casale Ely, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her father died Sept. 29 at his home in Los Alamos, California, an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County.

While Ron Ely was not quite as well-known as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-paris-games-tarzan-53767dd3d09e67a0e2fb017493732454">Johnny Weismuller, the Olympic swimmer</a>&nbsp;who played Tarzan in movies in the 1930s and 1940s, Ely helped form the image of the shirtless, loincloth-wearing character further immortalized by Disney.

“He was an actor, writer, coach, mentor, family man and leader,” Kirsten Ely said in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DBeR-voveE4/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=cede5900-8a98-4a57-9f07-a67519310234&amp;img_index=1">Instagram post</a>. “He created a powerful wave of positive influence wherever he went. The impact he had on others is something that I have never witnessed in any other person - there was something truly magical about him.”

In 2019, he tragically returned to the news when his 62-year-old wife, Valerie Lundeen Ely, was stabbed to death at their Santa Barbara, California, home by their 30-year-old son, Cameron Ely, who was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-television-a419275023e441498a1a1bd99c22af32">subsequently shot and killed by police</a>. Ron Ely, who was home during the stabbing, challenged the prosecutor's report that his son's shooting was justified.

“If he didn’t have a gun or he didn’t have a weapon, what was the basis of shooting him?”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-99072e47be63da685cd2fa4aecc09da6">Ely's attorney John Burris said in 2020.</a>&nbsp;“They may have very well thought he was involved in some other activity involving the mom. But that’s not a basis to shoot and kill him. You have to have a lawful basis to do that.”

In the early 1980s, Ely was host of the Miss America pageant and met Valerie, a Miss Florida, there. They married in 1984. The couple had three children, and Ely retired from acting to focus on his family in 2001.

“Late in life I had a young family. I decided to stop acting and work at home, as an author, that way I could be with the kids all through school and be able to attend their sports games and things,” he told London's Daily Express in 2013, expressing interest in the time at reentering acting. He would return briefly in the 2014 TV movie “Expecting Amish.”

Ely’s Tarzan didn’t speak in the monosyllabic grunts often associated with the character, originally created by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was instead an educated bachelor who had grown sick of civilization and had returned to African jungle where he was raised.

Ely said in interviews that he did his own stunts on the show, working directly and precariously with the tigers, chimpanzees and other wild animals that were Tarzan’s friends and servants.

“They first tried to cast a former American football player called Mike Henry but he didn’t like chimpanzees and from the moment he got on set, things went south in a hurry,” Ely told London’s Daily Express in 2013.

A chimp attacked Henry and injured his jaw when the show’s pilot was being filmed, and Ely was cast in his place at the last moment.

“I met with them on a Monday and when they offered me the role I thought: ‘No way do I want to step into that bear trap. You do Tarzan and you are stamped for life’,” Ely told the Daily Express. “Was I ever right! But my agent convinced me it was a quality show and was going to work. So on the Friday I was on a plane to Brazil to shoot the first episode.”

Ely also played the title character in the 1975 action film “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,” but otherwise had mostly small roles in TV and films, including the 1958 movie musical “South Pacific.”

He also wrote a pair of mystery novels featuring a detective named Jake Sands, 1994’s “Night Shadows” and 1995’s “East Beach.”

Born in Hereford, Texas, and raised in Amarillo, he married his high school sweetheart in 1959, but divorced two years later.

Along with Kirsten Casale Ely, he is survived by daughter Kaitland Ely Sweet.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729732497664.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LOS ANGELES (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/75388564292e401abeeb63e708f65099">Ron Ely,</a>&nbsp;the tall, musclebound actor who played the title character in the 1960s NBC series “Tarzan,” has died at age 86.Ely's daughter, Kirsten Casale Ely, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her father died Sept. 29 at his home in Los Alamos, California, an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County.While Ron Ely was not quite as well-known as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-paris-games-tarzan-53767dd3d09e67a0e2fb017493732454">Johnny Weismuller, the Olympic swimmer</a>&nbsp;who played Tarzan in movies in the 1930s and 1940s, Ely helped form the image of the shirtless, loincloth-wearing character further immortalized by Disney.“He was an actor, writer, coach, mentor, family man and leader,” Kirsten Ely said in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DBeR-voveE4/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=cede5900-8a98-4a57-9f07-a67519310234&amp;img_index=1">Instagram post</a>. “He created a powerful wave of positive influence wherever he went. The impact he had on others is something that I have never witnessed in any other person - there was something truly magical about him.”In 2019, he tragically returned to the news when his 62-year-old wife, Valerie Lundeen Ely, was stabbed to death at their Santa Barbara, California, home by their 30-year-old son, Cameron Ely, who was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-television-a419275023e441498a1a1bd99c22af32">subsequently shot and killed by police</a>. Ron Ely, who was home during the stabbing, challenged the prosecutor's report that his son's shooting was justified.“If he didn’t have a gun or he didn’t have a weapon, what was the basis of shooting him?”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-99072e47be63da685cd2fa4aecc09da6">Ely's attorney John Burris said in 2020.</a>&nbsp;“They may have very well thought he was involved in some other activity involving the mom. But that’s not a basis to shoot and kill him. You have to have a lawful basis to do that.”In the early 1980s, Ely was host of the Miss America pageant and met Valerie, a Miss Florida, there. They married in 1984. The couple had three children, and Ely retired from acting to focus on his family in 2001.“Late in life I had a young family. I decided to stop acting and work at home, as an author, that way I could be with the kids all through school and be able to attend their sports games and things,” he told London's Daily Express in 2013, expressing interest in the time at reentering acting. He would return briefly in the 2014 TV movie “Expecting Amish.”Ely’s Tarzan didn’t speak in the monosyllabic grunts often associated with the character, originally created by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was instead an educated bachelor who had grown sick of civilization and had returned to African jungle where he was raised.Ely said in interviews that he did his own stunts on the show, working directly and precariously with the tigers, chimpanzees and other wild animals that were Tarzan’s friends and servants.“They first tried to cast a former American football player called Mike Henry but he didn’t like chimpanzees and from the moment he got on set, things went south in a hurry,” Ely told London’s Daily Express in 2013.A chimp attacked Henry and injured his jaw when the show’s pilot was being filmed, and Ely was cast in his place at the last moment.“I met with them on a Monday and when they offered me the role I thought: ‘No way do I want to step into that bear trap. You do Tarzan and you are stamped for life’,” Ely told the Daily Express. “Was I ever right! But my agent convinced me it was a quality show and was going to work. So on the Friday I was on a plane to Brazil to shoot the first episode.”Ely also played the title character in the 1975 action film “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,” but otherwise had mostly small roles in TV and films, including the 1958 movie musical “South Pacific.”He also wrote a pair of mystery novels featuring a detective named Jake Sands, 1994’s “Night Shadows” and 1995’s “East Beach.”Born in Hereford, Texas, and raised in Amarillo, he married his high school sweetheart in 1959, but divorced two years later.Along with Kirsten Casale Ely, he is survived by daughter Kaitland Ely Sweet.

Ron Ely, TV's 'Tarzan' in the 1960s, dies at 86

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris said Wednesday that comments praising Adolf Hitler reportedly made by Donald Trump to his longest-serving chief of staff offer a window into who the former president “really is" and the kind of commander in chief he would be.

In interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic published Tuesday, John Kelly warned that the Republican nominee meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office he suggested that the Nazi leader “did some good things.”

Harris, the vice president and Democratic nominee, repeated her increasingly dire warnings about Trump’s mental fitness and his intentions for the presidency.

“This is a window into who Donald Trump really is, from the people who know him best, from the people who have worked with him side by side in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room,” Harris told reporters outside the vice president's residence in Washington.

The comments from Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, built on past warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.

Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-veterans-outrage-comments-history-cc0d20132abc7c1d8e33cba23ba1996b">calling veterans</a>&nbsp;killed in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings emerged as Trump seeks a second term vowing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-military-border-civil-unrest-domestic-use-a136c69cc85184b07f161c4c09b46c50">dramatically expand his use of the military</a>&nbsp;at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers “enemies from within.”

“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’” Kelly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/politics/john-kelly-trump-fitness-character.html">recalled to the Times</a>. Kelly said he would usually quash the conversation by saying “nothing (Hitler) did, you could argue, was good,” but that Trump would occasionally bring up the topic again.

In his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327/">interview with the Atlantic</a>, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly would ask if he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. “Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals,” Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded, “Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.”

Trump’s campaign denied the accounts. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Kelly had “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated" and, after Harris' statement, accused the Democratic candidate of sharing "outright lies and falsehoods.”

Chris Sununu, New Hampshire's Republican governor and onetime Trump critic, said Kelly's comments did not change his plans to vote for the former president.

“Look, we’ve heard a lot of extreme things about Donald Trump, from Donald Trump. It's really par for the course,” the governor told CNN. “Unfortunately, with a guy like that, it’s kind of baked into the vote at this point.”

Some of the former president's supporters in swing states responded to Kelly's comments with a shrug.

“Trump did his four years, and we were in great shape. Kelly didn’t have anything good to say about Trump. He ought to have his butt kicked," said Jim Lytner, a longtime advocate for veterans in Nevada who served in the Army in Vietnam and co-founded the nonprofit Veterans Transition Resource Center.

Harris said Wednesday that Trump admired Hitler's generals because he “does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution, he wants a military that is loyal to him. He wants a military who will be loyal to him personally.”

Polls show the race is tight in swing states, and both Trump and Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the sliver of undecided voters. Harris' campaign has spent considerable time reaching out to independent voters, using the support of longtime Republicans such as former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly's to urge past Trump voters to reject his candidacy in November.

Harris’ campaign held a call with reporters Tuesday to elevate the voices of retired military officials who highlighted how&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/former-trump-officials-criticize-2024-e202861911ab37cadfcf058b5b163fb9">many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign</a>.

“People that know him best are most opposed to him, his presidency,” said retired Army Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson.

Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully back Harris over Trump, something he has yet to do. But retired Army reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to Kelly, said Wednesday that the former top Trump official would “rather chew broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.”

Before serving as Trump's chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president's secretary of homeland security, where he oversaw Trump's attempts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Kelly was also at the forefront of the administration's crackdown in immigration policy that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris.

After Kelly left the Trump administration and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc26365872f54193bac677ffed3d4d2d">joined the board</a>&nbsp;of a company operating the nation's largest detention center for unaccompanied migrant children, Harris wrote during her 2019 run for president that he was “the architect” of the administration’s "cruel child separation policy. Now he will profit off the separation of families. It’s unethical. We are better than this.”

When she was in Miami for a primary debate in June 2019, Harris was also one of a dozen Democratic presidential candidates who visited the detention center south of the city and protested against the administration’s harsh treatment of young migrants.

In his interview with the Times, Kelly also said Trump met the definition of a fascist. After reading the definition aloud, including that fascism was “a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader,” Kelly concluded Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

Kelly added that Trump often fumed at any attempt to constrain his power, and that “he would love to be” a dictator.

“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Kelly told the Times. Adding later, “I think he’d love to be just like he was in business — he could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not really bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot.”

Kelly is not the first former top Trump administration official to cast the former president as a threat.

Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/12/mark-milley-donald-trump-fascist/">told Bob Woodward in his recent book “War”</a>&nbsp;that Trump was “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.” And retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who worked as secretary of defense under Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/mattis-told-woodward-he-agreed-trump">reportedly later told Woodward</a>&nbsp;that he agreed with Milley’s assessment.

Throughout Trump's political rise, the businessman-turned-politician benefited from the support of military veterans.

AP VoteCast&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-veterans-vote-trump-biden-2024-d9f5fa302b0b240e8cfa13267986e0a6">found</a>&nbsp;that about 6 in 10 military veterans said they voted for Trump in 2020, as did just over half of those with a veteran in the household. Among voters in this year’s South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that close to two-thirds of military veterans and people in veteran households voted for Trump over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump's toughest opponent in the 2024 Republican primary.

Associated Press writers Linley Sanders in Washington, Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris said Wednesday that comments praising Adolf Hitler reportedly made by Donald Trump to his longest-serving chief of staff offer a window into who the former president “really is" and the kind of commander in chief he would be.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Vice President Harris: &quot;It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler...this is a window into who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/WKu4xFXRl8">pic.twitter.com/WKu4xFXRl8</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1849135633534484705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic published Tuesday, John Kelly warned that the Republican nominee meets the definition of a fascist and that while in office he suggested that the Nazi leader “did some good things.”Harris, the vice president and Democratic nominee, repeated her increasingly dire warnings about Trump’s mental fitness and his intentions for the presidency.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Vice President Harris on Donald Trump: &quot;He does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution, he wants a military that is loyal to him.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ZtFxElxCvY">pic.twitter.com/ZtFxElxCvY</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1849135074689569114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“This is a window into who Donald Trump really is, from the people who know him best, from the people who have worked with him side by side in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room,” Harris told reporters outside the vice president's residence in Washington.The comments from Kelly, the retired Marine general who worked for Trump in the White House from 2017 to 2019, built on past warnings from former top Trump officials as the election enters its final two weeks.Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-veterans-outrage-comments-history-cc0d20132abc7c1d8e33cba23ba1996b">calling veterans</a>&nbsp;killed in combat “suckers” and “losers.” His new warnings emerged as Trump seeks a second term vowing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-military-border-civil-unrest-domestic-use-a136c69cc85184b07f161c4c09b46c50">dramatically expand his use of the military</a>&nbsp;at home and suggesting he would use force to go after Americans he considers “enemies from within.”“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’” Kelly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/politics/john-kelly-trump-fitness-character.html">recalled to the Times</a>. Kelly said he would usually quash the conversation by saying “nothing (Hitler) did, you could argue, was good,” but that Trump would occasionally bring up the topic again.In his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327/">interview with the Atlantic</a>, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly would ask if he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany. “Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals,” Kelly recalled asking Trump. To which the former president responded, “Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.”Trump’s campaign denied the accounts. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Kelly had “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated" and, after Harris' statement, accused the Democratic candidate of sharing "outright lies and falsehoods.”Chris Sununu, New Hampshire's Republican governor and onetime Trump critic, said Kelly's comments did not change his plans to vote for the former president.“Look, we’ve heard a lot of extreme things about Donald Trump, from Donald Trump. It's really par for the course,” the governor told CNN. “Unfortunately, with a guy like that, it’s kind of baked into the vote at this point.”Some of the former president's supporters in swing states responded to Kelly's comments with a shrug.“Trump did his four years, and we were in great shape. Kelly didn’t have anything good to say about Trump. He ought to have his butt kicked," said Jim Lytner, a longtime advocate for veterans in Nevada who served in the Army in Vietnam and co-founded the nonprofit Veterans Transition Resource Center.Harris said Wednesday that Trump admired Hitler's generals because he “does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution, he wants a military that is loyal to him. He wants a military who will be loyal to him personally.”Polls show the race is tight in swing states, and both Trump and Harris are crisscrossing the country making their final pitches to the sliver of undecided voters. Harris' campaign has spent considerable time reaching out to independent voters, using the support of longtime Republicans such as former Rep. Liz Cheney and comments like Kelly's to urge past Trump voters to reject his candidacy in November.Harris’ campaign held a call with reporters Tuesday to elevate the voices of retired military officials who highlighted how&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/former-trump-officials-criticize-2024-e202861911ab37cadfcf058b5b163fb9">many of the officials who worked with Trump now oppose his campaign</a>.“People that know him best are most opposed to him, his presidency,” said retired Army Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson.Anderson said he wished Kelly would fully back Harris over Trump, something he has yet to do. But retired Army reserve Col. Kevin Carroll, a former senior counselor to Kelly, said Wednesday that the former top Trump official would “rather chew broken glass than vote for Donald Trump.”Before serving as Trump's chief of staff, Kelly worked as the former president's secretary of homeland security, where he oversaw Trump's attempts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Kelly was also at the forefront of the administration's crackdown in immigration policy that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children along the southern border. Those actions made him a villain to many on the left, including Harris.After Kelly left the Trump administration and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc26365872f54193bac677ffed3d4d2d">joined the board</a>&nbsp;of a company operating the nation's largest detention center for unaccompanied migrant children, Harris wrote during her 2019 run for president that he was “the architect” of the administration’s "cruel child separation policy. Now he will profit off the separation of families. It’s unethical. We are better than this.”When she was in Miami for a primary debate in June 2019, Harris was also one of a dozen Democratic presidential candidates who visited the detention center south of the city and protested against the administration’s harsh treatment of young migrants.In his interview with the Times, Kelly also said Trump met the definition of a fascist. After reading the definition aloud, including that fascism was “a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader,” Kelly concluded Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”Kelly added that Trump often fumed at any attempt to constrain his power, and that “he would love to be” a dictator.“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Kelly told the Times. Adding later, “I think he’d love to be just like he was in business — he could tell people to do things and they would do it, and not really bother too much about whether what the legalities were and whatnot.”Kelly is not the first former top Trump administration official to cast the former president as a threat.Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/12/mark-milley-donald-trump-fascist/">told Bob Woodward in his recent book “War”</a>&nbsp;that Trump was “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.” And retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who worked as secretary of defense under Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/mattis-told-woodward-he-agreed-trump">reportedly later told Woodward</a>&nbsp;that he agreed with Milley’s assessment.Throughout Trump's political rise, the businessman-turned-politician benefited from the support of military veterans.AP VoteCast&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-veterans-vote-trump-biden-2024-d9f5fa302b0b240e8cfa13267986e0a6">found</a>&nbsp;that about 6 in 10 military veterans said they voted for Trump in 2020, as did just over half of those with a veteran in the household. Among voters in this year’s South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that close to two-thirds of military veterans and people in veteran households voted for Trump over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump's toughest opponent in the 2024 Republican primary.___Associated Press writers Linley Sanders in Washington, Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami contributed to this report.

🎥Harris blasts Trump on reported Hitler comments

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DEE-ANN%20DURBIN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer</a>

McDonald’s worked Wednesday to reassure customers that its U.S. restaurants are safe as federal investigators tried to pinpoint the cause of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-e-coli-outbreak-422c4687cc9218efda03cae73b01f473">deadly E. coli outbreak</a>&nbsp;linked to fast-food giant's Quarter Pounder hamburgers.

McDonald's pulled Quarter Pounders from one-fifth of its U.S. stores Tuesday as a result of the outbreak, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said had sickened at least 49 people in 10 states. One person died and 10 were hospitalized, according to the CDC.

A preliminary investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggested fresh slivered onions that are served raw on Quarter Pounder hamburgers were a likely source of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/e-coli-mcdonalds-outbreak-bacteria-quarter-pounder-080847096a6b7062b4fb17037393fc99">the contamination</a>.

McDonald's said it was searching for a new regional supplier for fresh onions. In the meantime, Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in the impacted states as well as portions of other states.

McDonald’s said it has worked closely with federal food safety regulators since late last week, when it was alerted to the potential outbreak. The company said the scope of the problem and the popularity of its products have complicated efforts to identify the contamination source.

McDonald's has more than 14,000 U.S. stores and serves 1 million Quarter Pounders every two weeks in the affected area.

McDonald's is known for its stringent food safety guidelines and protocols, said Chris Gaulke, a professor of food and beverage management at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration. The company said Wednesday that the supplier regularly tested its onions for E. coli, for example.

“Given the volume of food that they go through, how infrequently this happens to McDonald's is a testament to the effort that they take,” Gaulke said.

But some experts questioned why McDonald's simply stopped selling one sandwich and didn't close restaurants for further investigation.

“Good practice would have been to close all the restaurants," Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food safety cases, said. “Until we know definitively what the product was that made people sick, consumers should be aware."

Marler said cross-contamination remains a potential possibility at the affected restaurants until they are thoroughly cleaned.

Asked why it didn't close any stores, McDonald’s said nothing in the government’s investigation indicated there were issues with its food preparation practices. In an interview on the “Today” show Wednesday, McDonald's U.S. President Joe Erlinger also said it's likely that whatever product was contaminated has already passed through the company's supply chain.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the outbreak late Tuesday. It said infections were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11 in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

State and local public health officials were interviewing people about the foods they ate in the week before they got sick. Of the 18 people interviewed as of Tuesday, all reported eating at McDonald’s, and 16 people reported eating a beef hamburger. Twelve reported eating a Quarter Pounder.

McDonald's said it's unlikely the beef in the Quarter Pounder was the source, since it comes from multiple suppliers and is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill E. coli.

McDonald's said its initial findings suggest that some of the reported illnesses were linked to onions from a single supplier, which the company didn't name. McDonald's said the onions are cleaned and sliced by the supplier and then packaged for use on individual Quarter Pounders.

The incubation period for E. coli is only a couple of days, so illness would be quickly apparent to anyone affected, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University. “If you ate these burgers in September and now it’s the middle of October and you didn’t get sick, you’re probably OK,” he said.

<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/about/index.html">E. coli bacteria</a>&nbsp;are harbored in the guts of animals and found in the environment. Infections can cause severe illness, including fever, stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea. People who develop symptoms of E. coli poisoning should seek health care immediately and tell the provider what they ate.

The type of bacteria implicated in the McDonald's food causes about 74,000 infections in the U.S. annually, leading to more than 2,000 hospitalizations and 61 deaths each year, according to the CDC. In general, E. coli infections were lower in 2023 than in recent years and cases of severe kidney injury caused by the bacteria remained stable, according to latest federal data.

Outbreaks at restaurant chains are rare, but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-chipotle-taco-bell-norovirus-e-coli-83f1077981d738b91dbf0c76f7db2883">they do happen</a>.

In 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3cce663eeeb0654c5334ae08a5b25b3c">Chipotle</a>&nbsp;agreed to pay a record $25 million fine to resolve criminal charges that it served tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people with E. coli between 2015 and 2018. In that case, poor safety practices, such as not keeping food at proper temperatures to prevent pathogen growth, were to blame.

In 2006, Taco Bell ordered the removal of green onions from its restaurants nationwide after samples taken by investigators appeared to contain a harsh strain of E. coli. The outbreak sickened at least 71 people.

“The worst thing you can have at a restaurant is a food safety problem. It’s the equivalent of an airline losing the plane,” said Aaron Allen, a restaurant consultant and founder of Aaron Allen and Associates.

But Allen said McDonald's has enough experience and safety protocols in place that it won't suffer long-term damage from the outbreak.

“No one would be better equipped to mitigate and respond to this than McDonald's,” he said.

McDonald's shares fell 4.7% in late trading Wednesday.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DEE-ANN%20DURBIN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer</a>McDonald’s worked Wednesday to reassure customers that its U.S. restaurants are safe as federal investigators tried to pinpoint the cause of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-e-coli-outbreak-422c4687cc9218efda03cae73b01f473">deadly E. coli outbreak</a>&nbsp;linked to fast-food giant's Quarter Pounder hamburgers.McDonald's pulled Quarter Pounders from one-fifth of its U.S. stores Tuesday as a result of the outbreak, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said had sickened at least 49 people in 10 states. One person died and 10 were hospitalized, according to the CDC.A preliminary investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggested fresh slivered onions that are served raw on Quarter Pounder hamburgers were a likely source of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/e-coli-mcdonalds-outbreak-bacteria-quarter-pounder-080847096a6b7062b4fb17037393fc99">the contamination</a>.McDonald's said it was searching for a new regional supplier for fresh onions. In the meantime, Quarter Pounders were removed from menus in the impacted states as well as portions of other states.McDonald’s said it has worked closely with federal food safety regulators since late last week, when it was alerted to the potential outbreak. The company said the scope of the problem and the popularity of its products have complicated efforts to identify the contamination source.McDonald's has more than 14,000 U.S. stores and serves 1 million Quarter Pounders every two weeks in the affected area.McDonald's is known for its stringent food safety guidelines and protocols, said Chris Gaulke, a professor of food and beverage management at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration. The company said Wednesday that the supplier regularly tested its onions for E. coli, for example.“Given the volume of food that they go through, how infrequently this happens to McDonald's is a testament to the effort that they take,” Gaulke said.But some experts questioned why McDonald's simply stopped selling one sandwich and didn't close restaurants for further investigation.“Good practice would have been to close all the restaurants," Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer who specializes in food safety cases, said. “Until we know definitively what the product was that made people sick, consumers should be aware."Marler said cross-contamination remains a potential possibility at the affected restaurants until they are thoroughly cleaned.Asked why it didn't close any stores, McDonald’s said nothing in the government’s investigation indicated there were issues with its food preparation practices. In an interview on the “Today” show Wednesday, McDonald's U.S. President Joe Erlinger also said it's likely that whatever product was contaminated has already passed through the company's supply chain.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729692566058.png" alt="Map shows where people in this E. coli outbreak live. The number is likely higher, as many people recover without medical care and are not tested. Image CDC" />
 <figcaption>Map shows where people in this E. coli outbreak live. The number is likely higher, as many people recover without medical care and are not tested. Image CDC</figcaption>
 </figure>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the outbreak late Tuesday. It said infections were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11 in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.State and local public health officials were interviewing people about the foods they ate in the week before they got sick. Of the 18 people interviewed as of Tuesday, all reported eating at McDonald’s, and 16 people reported eating a beef hamburger. Twelve reported eating a Quarter Pounder.McDonald's said it's unlikely the beef in the Quarter Pounder was the source, since it comes from multiple suppliers and is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill E. coli.McDonald's said its initial findings suggest that some of the reported illnesses were linked to onions from a single supplier, which the company didn't name. McDonald's said the onions are cleaned and sliced by the supplier and then packaged for use on individual Quarter Pounders.The incubation period for E. coli is only a couple of days, so illness would be quickly apparent to anyone affected, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University. “If you ate these burgers in September and now it’s the middle of October and you didn’t get sick, you’re probably OK,” he said.<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/about/index.html">E. coli bacteria</a>&nbsp;are harbored in the guts of animals and found in the environment. Infections can cause severe illness, including fever, stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea. People who develop symptoms of E. coli poisoning should seek health care immediately and tell the provider what they ate.The type of bacteria implicated in the McDonald's food causes about 74,000 infections in the U.S. annually, leading to more than 2,000 hospitalizations and 61 deaths each year, according to the CDC. In general, E. coli infections were lower in 2023 than in recent years and cases of severe kidney injury caused by the bacteria remained stable, according to latest federal data.Outbreaks at restaurant chains are rare, but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-chipotle-taco-bell-norovirus-e-coli-83f1077981d738b91dbf0c76f7db2883">they do happen</a>.In 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3cce663eeeb0654c5334ae08a5b25b3c">Chipotle</a>&nbsp;agreed to pay a record $25 million fine to resolve criminal charges that it served tainted food that sickened more than 1,100 people with E. coli between 2015 and 2018. In that case, poor safety practices, such as not keeping food at proper temperatures to prevent pathogen growth, were to blame.In 2006, Taco Bell ordered the removal of green onions from its restaurants nationwide after samples taken by investigators appeared to contain a harsh strain of E. coli. The outbreak sickened at least 71 people.“The worst thing you can have at a restaurant is a food safety problem. It’s the equivalent of an airline losing the plane,” said Aaron Allen, a restaurant consultant and founder of Aaron Allen and Associates.But Allen said McDonald's has enough experience and safety protocols in place that it won't suffer long-term damage from the outbreak.“No one would be better equipped to mitigate and respond to this than McDonald's,” he said.McDonald's shares fell 4.7% in late trading Wednesday.

McDonald's tries to reassure customers after deadly E. coli outbreak

BUTLER COUNTY — Law enforcement in Butler County have released the name of the driver who died in an&nbsp;accident just before 10a.m. Tuesday in Butler County as 38-year-old Karel Munoz Rosales of Houston, Texas, according to Butler County Undersheriff&nbsp;Daimon Cundiff.

The semi pulling an empty flatbed trailer and driven by Rosales had pulled up to the railroad crossing at S. Douglas Road and S. Sunset Road, inside HF Sinclair Refinery, in El Dorado and began to cross.

The semi stopped and&nbsp; Rosales tried to reverse, indicating he may have realized there was not enough time to cross in front of the southbound train.

Rosales was unable to get off the tracks in time and the train crashed into the passenger side of the semi.&nbsp; Rosales was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Cundiff.

There were no hazardous chemicals or materials involved with either the train or the tractor-trailer.

In addition to Butler County Sheriff’s Deputies, Butler County EMS and El Dorado Fire Department assisted at the scene.

BUTLER COUNTY — Law enforcement in Butler County have released the name of the driver who died in an&nbsp;accident just before 10a.m. Tuesday in Butler County as 38-year-old Karel Munoz Rosales of Houston, Texas, according to Butler County Undersheriff&nbsp;Daimon Cundiff.The semi pulling an empty flatbed trailer and driven by Rosales had pulled up to the railroad crossing at S. Douglas Road and S. Sunset Road, inside HF Sinclair Refinery, in El Dorado and began to cross.The semi stopped and&nbsp; Rosales tried to reverse, indicating he may have realized there was not enough time to cross in front of the southbound train.Rosales was unable to get off the tracks in time and the train crashed into the passenger side of the semi.&nbsp; Rosales was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Cundiff.There were no hazardous chemicals or materials involved with either the train or the tractor-trailer.In addition to Butler County Sheriff’s Deputies, Butler County EMS and El Dorado Fire Department assisted at the scene.

Sheriff IDs driver killed when train struck semi at Kan. refinery

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HEATHER%20HOLLINGSWORTH%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press</a>

An appellate court in Missouri ruled Tuesday that a lower court was right when it decided to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-sandra-hemme-conviction-overturned-killing-3cb4c9ae74b2e95cb076636d52453228">overturn</a>&nbsp;the murder conviction of a woman who spent 43 years behind bars for a killing that her attorneys argue was committed by a discredited police officer.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-sandra-hemme-conviction-overturned-killing-3cb4c9ae74b2e95cb076636d52453228">Sandra Hemme</a>&nbsp;was freed in July while the decision to overturn her conviction was reviewed -- at the insistence of Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who argued she should remain imprisoned.

Presiding Judge Cynthia Martin wrote in the scathing 71-page ruling that some arguments raised by Bailey's office bordered “on the absurd” and gave prosecutors 10 days to refile charges.

“It is time for this miscarriage of justice to end,” Hemme’s attorneys said in a statement following the ruling in the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.

Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project.

A spokeswoman for Bailey didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Hemme was being treated with heavy doses of antipsychotic drugs when she was first questioned about the 1980 murder of 31-year-old library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph. One of Hemme's attorneys, Sean O'Brien, likened the drugs to a “chemical straightjacket” in an October hearing and said they raised questions about her ultimate confession.

“It makes her compliant,” he said. “It makes her subject to susceptibility.”

O'Brien also outlined evidence that was withheld that pointed to Michael Holman — a former police officer, who died in 2015. Evidence showed that Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment, that he tried to use her credit card, and that her earrings were found in his home.

The appellate court's ruling said the record “strongly suggests” that police buried their investigation into Holman.

The same conclusion was reached in June when Judge Ryan Horsman in Livingston County overturned her conviction. He found that Hemme's attorney had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence."

But Bailey asked the appellate court to review that decision, arguing that Horsman had exceeded his authority and that Hemme failed to present sufficient evidence on some of her claims.

What ensued was a month-long fight over whether she should be freed while that review took place. A circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court all agreed Hemme should be released, but she was still held behind bars as Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/84f20b9c3560bcd8770ce348bae023f2">argued</a>&nbsp;that she still had time to serve on decades-old prison assault cases.

Hemme walked free only after Horsman threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt.

At the latest hearing in October, Andrew Clarke, an assistant attorney general, faced tough questioning.

One of the appellate court judges noted particular concern about what happened when Holman, the discredited police officer, couldn’t be ruled out as the source of a palm print detected on a TV antenna cable found next to the victim’s body.

The FBI asked for clearer prints, but police didn’t follow up. Jurors never heard about that or other evidence because the police never informed prosecutors.

“The court," Clarke said in response to questions about the significance of suppressed evidence, "has to consider what its value is at a future trial, what it would look like. And if it undermines confidence in the prior verdict.”

Clarke contended that some of the evidence at issue might not have met the bar to be presented in court — a contention the judges questioned.

Bailey has a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/bc213e05442642428638fe5c1bf95b99">history</a>&nbsp;of fighting overturned conviction cases. In July, a St. Louis circuit judge overturned Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction and ordered his immediate release. Among the key evidence used to convict him of first-degree murder was testimony from two boys who later recanted, saying they had been coerced by police and prosecutors.

Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f128653d7b67aa4099faa91d0fcba31c">appealed</a>&nbsp;to try and keep Dunn locked up before he ultimately was released.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/7/1721436949388.png" alt="Sandra Hemme walks out of prison after 43 years-photo courtesy The Innocence Project" />
 <figcaption>Sandra Hemme walks out of prison after 43 years-photo courtesy The Innocence Project</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HEATHER%20HOLLINGSWORTH%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH Associated Press</a>An appellate court in Missouri ruled Tuesday that a lower court was right when it decided to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-sandra-hemme-conviction-overturned-killing-3cb4c9ae74b2e95cb076636d52453228">overturn</a>&nbsp;the murder conviction of a woman who spent 43 years behind bars for a killing that her attorneys argue was committed by a discredited police officer.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-sandra-hemme-conviction-overturned-killing-3cb4c9ae74b2e95cb076636d52453228">Sandra Hemme</a>&nbsp;was freed in July while the decision to overturn her conviction was reviewed -- at the insistence of Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who argued she should remain imprisoned.Presiding Judge Cynthia Martin wrote in the scathing 71-page ruling that some arguments raised by Bailey's office bordered “on the absurd” and gave prosecutors 10 days to refile charges.“It is time for this miscarriage of justice to end,” Hemme’s attorneys said in a statement following the ruling in the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project.A spokeswoman for Bailey didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.Hemme was being treated with heavy doses of antipsychotic drugs when she was first questioned about the 1980 murder of 31-year-old library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph. One of Hemme's attorneys, Sean O'Brien, likened the drugs to a “chemical straightjacket” in an October hearing and said they raised questions about her ultimate confession.“It makes her compliant,” he said. “It makes her subject to susceptibility.”O'Brien also outlined evidence that was withheld that pointed to Michael Holman — a former police officer, who died in 2015. Evidence showed that Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment, that he tried to use her credit card, and that her earrings were found in his home.The appellate court's ruling said the record “strongly suggests” that police buried their investigation into Holman.The same conclusion was reached in June when Judge Ryan Horsman in Livingston County overturned her conviction. He found that Hemme's attorney had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence."But Bailey asked the appellate court to review that decision, arguing that Horsman had exceeded his authority and that Hemme failed to present sufficient evidence on some of her claims.What ensued was a month-long fight over whether she should be freed while that review took place. A circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court all agreed Hemme should be released, but she was still held behind bars as Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/84f20b9c3560bcd8770ce348bae023f2">argued</a>&nbsp;that she still had time to serve on decades-old prison assault cases.Hemme walked free only after Horsman threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt.At the latest hearing in October, Andrew Clarke, an assistant attorney general, faced tough questioning.One of the appellate court judges noted particular concern about what happened when Holman, the discredited police officer, couldn’t be ruled out as the source of a palm print detected on a TV antenna cable found next to the victim’s body.The FBI asked for clearer prints, but police didn’t follow up. Jurors never heard about that or other evidence because the police never informed prosecutors.“The court," Clarke said in response to questions about the significance of suppressed evidence, "has to consider what its value is at a future trial, what it would look like. And if it undermines confidence in the prior verdict.”Clarke contended that some of the evidence at issue might not have met the bar to be presented in court — a contention the judges questioned.Bailey has a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/bc213e05442642428638fe5c1bf95b99">history</a>&nbsp;of fighting overturned conviction cases. In July, a St. Louis circuit judge overturned Christopher Dunn’s murder conviction and ordered his immediate release. Among the key evidence used to convict him of first-degree murder was testimony from two boys who later recanted, saying they had been coerced by police and prosecutors.Bailey&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f128653d7b67aa4099faa91d0fcba31c">appealed</a>&nbsp;to try and keep Dunn locked up before he ultimately was released.

Court upholds freedom for woman whose conviction was overturned after 43 years 

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>

This is one in a series of States Newsroom reports on the major policy issues in the presidential race.

WASHINGTON — Democrats have increasingly cried out for new rules for the nation’s highest court, and the 2024 presidential election reflects a clear party divide over how Supreme Court justices should behave and whether they should remain on the bench for life.

The erasure of a nearly 50-year-old national right to abortion, the granting of wide latitude for former presidents to escape criminal accountability and several ethics scandals magnified these questions. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are giving voters very different answers.

Harris’&nbsp;<a href="https://kamalaharris.com/issues/" target="_blank">platform</a>&nbsp;calls for “common-sense” reforms that include term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code that mirrors the rules that apply to lower federal judges.

When President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/biden-urges-term-limits-us-supreme-court-justices-new-ethics-rules" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;his proposals for Supreme Court ethics reform roughly one week after dropping his bid for reelection, Harris issued a statement reinforcing the need to “restore confidence” in the court.

“That is why President Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass important reforms — from imposing term limits for Justices’ active service, to requiring Justices to comply with binding ethics rules just like every other federal judge. And finally, in our democracy, no one should be above the law. So we must also ensure that no former President has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House,” she said.

While Harris’ campaign did not provide additional details on her platform, Harris has a record of supporting such measures. As a senator in 2019, Harris co-sponsored a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/393?s=4&amp;r=476" target="_blank">bill</a>&nbsp;to enforce a uniform ethics code at every level of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court.

When asked for comment about Trump’s stance on enforceable ethics rules or term limits at the Supreme Court, Trump campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes responded: “President Trump has said that, apart from matters of war and peace, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice is the most important decision an American President can make. As president, he appointed constitutionalist judges who interpret the law as written, and he will do so again when voters send him back to the White House.”

The former president has made his opposition to change known on social media.

Nearly two weeks before Biden’s speech in July to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/29/joe-biden-reform-supreme-court-presidential-immunity-plan-announcement/" target="_blank">roll out</a>&nbsp;his ideas for improving the court, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112798594310559815" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;on Truth Social that the “Radical Left Democrats are desperately trying to ‘Play the Ref’ by calling for an illegal and unConstitutional attack on our SACRED United States Supreme Court.”

“The reason that these Communists are so despondent is that their unLawful Witch Hunts are failing everywhere. The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the Presidential Election, and destroy our Justice System, by attacking their Political Opponent, ME, and our Honorable Supreme Court. We have to fight for our Fair and Independent Courts, and protect our Country. MAGA2024!” he continued, randomly capitalizing words as he often does.

The Republican National Committee stated in its&nbsp;<a href="https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/?_gl=1*1rfs4mg*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3Mjc3MDk0MDAuQ2owS0NRandtT20zQmhDOEFSSXNBT1NiYXBWZlV5WUV5Z0VCSlVrdS1UUFhsSzlBdFlzU1d0cUxVSEJ6Y0dNaEEyaFNrR2NsTm5GOU9TNGFBamVlRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTc2MjY5MTQ3Ny4xNzI1Mzc2OTQwLjg5MTAzNzIyNy4xNzI4Mzk4NzIwLjE3MjgzOTg5MDQ.&amp;_ga=2.5949424.2129307976.1729440058-1161412080.1725376940&amp;_gac=1.186981850.1727709400.Cj0KCQjwmOm3BhC8ARIsAOSbapVfUyYEygEBJUku-TPXlK9AtYsSWtqLUHBzcGMhA2hSkGclNnF9OS4aAjeeEALw_wcB" target="_blank">platform</a>&nbsp;that the party unequivocally opposes any changes to the number of Supreme Court justices.

“We will maintain the Supreme Court as it was always meant to be, at 9 Justices. We will not allow the Democrat Party to increase this number, as they would like to do, by 4, 6, 8, 10, and even 12 Justices. We will block them at every turn.”

At the Economic Club of Chicago on Oct. 15, Trump appeared to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?539131-1/president-trump-interview-economic-club-chicago" target="_blank">accuse</a>&nbsp;Democrats of wanting to add up to 25 new justices to the Supreme Court bench.

Harris’ 2024 campaign position on the Supreme Court does not include a plan to change the number of justices. During her 2020 presidential run, Harris expressed an openness to expanding the court, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/31/harris-biden-supreme-court-reform-00172010?is_magic_link=true&amp;template_id=OTJIR2CRKUD6&amp;template_variant_id=OTVPXN5JGTYRX" target="_blank">Politico</a>&nbsp;and other reports. Biden, at the time, remained&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/NewsHour/status/1320842408549093378" target="_blank">opposed</a>&nbsp;to changes, including justice term limits.

When Trump was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/fueled-lies-trump-charged-seeking-overturn-2020-election-6" target="_blank">charged</a>&nbsp;with federal fraud and obstruction crimes for his attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-asks-us-supreme-court-pause-federal-trial-over-presidential-immunity-question" target="_blank">escalated</a>&nbsp;his appeal for presidential immunity all the way to the Supreme Court.

On July 1, the justices issued a 6-3&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf" target="_blank">opinion</a>&nbsp;granting former presidents criminal immunity for “core constitutional” duties and presumptive immunity for actions on the “outer perimeter” of official duties, but none for unofficial, personal acts.

Two of the justices who joined the conservative majority ruling — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — were Trump appointees. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, also appointed during Trump’s time in the Oval Office, joined them, concurring in part.

Trump’s case was delayed for the better part of 2024, tied up in the high court process as he campaigned for a second presidency. The delay ultimately closed the door on a trial before November’s election.

The high-profile case not only highlighted the fact that Trump was being judged by his own appointees, but also that two other justices had been recently exposed in ethics scandals involving Republican donors and appearing to show support for Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election.

In April 2023, ProPublica&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow" target="_blank">uncovered</a>&nbsp;that Justice Clarence Thomas had been accepting luxury travel and other big ticket gifts from Republican billionaire donor Harlan Crow.

In May of this year, the New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;photos of an upside-down American flag flying outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito following the violent riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The upside-down flag, a general symbol of protest, had been adopted by Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election was stolen.

All parties have denied any wrongdoing, and Alito&nbsp;<a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter%20from%20Justice%20Alito%20to%20Senators%20Durbin%20and%20Whitehouse.pdf" target="_blank">declined</a>&nbsp;to recuse himself from Trump’s 2020 election subversion case, and another&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/divided-us-supreme-court-wrestles-case-pennsylvania-man-who-joined-jan-6-mob" target="_blank">case</a>&nbsp;brought by a Jan. 6 defendant.

While the Thomas and Alito scandals attracted the most attention, observers of the court say many of the justices’ actions raise ethics questions.

Gabe Roth, founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Fix the Court, said “no justice has totally behaved ethically.”

Roth cited transgressions by both conservative and liberal justices: socializing with litigants who argue before the court, the use of government resources to promote a personal book and instances of justices not recusing themselves from cases in which they appear to have a stake.

“It hasn’t been to the scale of the things that ProPublica uncovered, but no justice is fully pure when it comes to ethics issues, which is not to say that they’re all corrupt or they’re all compromised by any means. It’s just more, to me, a fact that the whole institution needs to focus more on ethical leadership,” Roth said.

ProPublica&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/propublica-work-joshua-kaplan-justin-elliott-brett-murphy-alex-mierjeski-and-kirsten-berg" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;numerous stories in 2023 detailing gifts Thomas never disclosed, as well as a luxury fishing expedition Alito took with a Republican billionaire who argued before the court.

The Supreme Court currently polices itself with its own&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf" target="_blank">code</a>&nbsp;of conduct and maintains justices already follow rules that apply to lower federal judges.

Congressional Democrats have introduced several bills aiming to impose ethics rules on the justices and limit life-time appointments, for example to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4423/text?s=1&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22supreme+court+term+limits%22%7D" target="_blank">18 years</a>.

A bill led by Senate Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/ethics-rules-supreme-court-justices-approved-party-line-vote-us-senate-panel" target="_blank">passed</a>&nbsp;the Democratic-led Senate Committee on the Judiciary in July 2023.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/359/text?s=1&amp;r=4&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22supreme+court+ethics%22%5D%7D" target="_blank">legislation</a>&nbsp;aimed to mandate an enforceable ethics code, tighten recusal and gift disclosure requirements, and establish a complaints process similar to that of the lower courts.

An&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1djxXNlOjOkGZ" target="_blank">attempt</a>&nbsp;at unanimous consent passage on the Senate floor in June was blocked by Senate Judiciary’s top Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“Let’s be clear, this is not about improving the court, this is about undermining the court,” Graham said on the floor.

Roth said no matter who wins the presidency and which party takes control of the Senate, the longtime fight for an ethics overhaul and term limits at the high court will continue — and that it shouldn’t be partisan.

“If they’re done right, it doesn’t favor one party or another or one ideology or another. It’s a bit weird that one side is saying they don’t love ethics right now,” Roth continued. “I don’t get it.”

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>This is one in a series of States Newsroom reports on the major policy issues in the presidential race.WASHINGTON — Democrats have increasingly cried out for new rules for the nation’s highest court, and the 2024 presidential election reflects a clear party divide over how Supreme Court justices should behave and whether they should remain on the bench for life.The erasure of a nearly 50-year-old national right to abortion, the granting of wide latitude for former presidents to escape criminal accountability and several ethics scandals magnified these questions. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are giving voters very different answers.Harris’&nbsp;<a href="https://kamalaharris.com/issues/" target="_blank">platform</a>&nbsp;calls for “common-sense” reforms that include term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code that mirrors the rules that apply to lower federal judges.When President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/biden-urges-term-limits-us-supreme-court-justices-new-ethics-rules" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;his proposals for Supreme Court ethics reform roughly one week after dropping his bid for reelection, Harris issued a statement reinforcing the need to “restore confidence” in the court.“That is why President Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass important reforms — from imposing term limits for Justices’ active service, to requiring Justices to comply with binding ethics rules just like every other federal judge. And finally, in our democracy, no one should be above the law. So we must also ensure that no former President has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House,” she said.While Harris’ campaign did not provide additional details on her platform, Harris has a record of supporting such measures. As a senator in 2019, Harris co-sponsored a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/393?s=4&amp;r=476" target="_blank">bill</a>&nbsp;to enforce a uniform ethics code at every level of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court.<h2>Trump position</h2>When asked for comment about Trump’s stance on enforceable ethics rules or term limits at the Supreme Court, Trump campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes responded: “President Trump has said that, apart from matters of war and peace, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice is the most important decision an American President can make. As president, he appointed constitutionalist judges who interpret the law as written, and he will do so again when voters send him back to the White House.”The former president has made his opposition to change known on social media.Nearly two weeks before Biden’s speech in July to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/29/joe-biden-reform-supreme-court-presidential-immunity-plan-announcement/" target="_blank">roll out</a>&nbsp;his ideas for improving the court, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112798594310559815" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;on Truth Social that the “Radical Left Democrats are desperately trying to ‘Play the Ref’ by calling for an illegal and unConstitutional attack on our SACRED United States Supreme Court.”“The reason that these Communists are so despondent is that their unLawful Witch Hunts are failing everywhere. The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the Presidential Election, and destroy our Justice System, by attacking their Political Opponent, ME, and our Honorable Supreme Court. We have to fight for our Fair and Independent Courts, and protect our Country. MAGA2024!” he continued, randomly capitalizing words as he often does.The Republican National Committee stated in its&nbsp;<a href="https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/?_gl=1*1rfs4mg*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3Mjc3MDk0MDAuQ2owS0NRandtT20zQmhDOEFSSXNBT1NiYXBWZlV5WUV5Z0VCSlVrdS1UUFhsSzlBdFlzU1d0cUxVSEJ6Y0dNaEEyaFNrR2NsTm5GOU9TNGFBamVlRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*MTc2MjY5MTQ3Ny4xNzI1Mzc2OTQwLjg5MTAzNzIyNy4xNzI4Mzk4NzIwLjE3MjgzOTg5MDQ.&amp;_ga=2.5949424.2129307976.1729440058-1161412080.1725376940&amp;_gac=1.186981850.1727709400.Cj0KCQjwmOm3BhC8ARIsAOSbapVfUyYEygEBJUku-TPXlK9AtYsSWtqLUHBzcGMhA2hSkGclNnF9OS4aAjeeEALw_wcB" target="_blank">platform</a>&nbsp;that the party unequivocally opposes any changes to the number of Supreme Court justices.“We will maintain the Supreme Court as it was always meant to be, at 9 Justices. We will not allow the Democrat Party to increase this number, as they would like to do, by 4, 6, 8, 10, and even 12 Justices. We will block them at every turn.”At the Economic Club of Chicago on Oct. 15, Trump appeared to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?539131-1/president-trump-interview-economic-club-chicago" target="_blank">accuse</a>&nbsp;Democrats of wanting to add up to 25 new justices to the Supreme Court bench.Harris’ 2024 campaign position on the Supreme Court does not include a plan to change the number of justices. During her 2020 presidential run, Harris expressed an openness to expanding the court, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/31/harris-biden-supreme-court-reform-00172010?is_magic_link=true&amp;template_id=OTJIR2CRKUD6&amp;template_variant_id=OTVPXN5JGTYRX" target="_blank">Politico</a>&nbsp;and other reports. Biden, at the time, remained&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/NewsHour/status/1320842408549093378" target="_blank">opposed</a>&nbsp;to changes, including justice term limits.<h2>Immunity ruling</h2>When Trump was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/fueled-lies-trump-charged-seeking-overturn-2020-election-6" target="_blank">charged</a>&nbsp;with federal fraud and obstruction crimes for his attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-asks-us-supreme-court-pause-federal-trial-over-presidential-immunity-question" target="_blank">escalated</a>&nbsp;his appeal for presidential immunity all the way to the Supreme Court.On July 1, the justices issued a 6-3&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf" target="_blank">opinion</a>&nbsp;granting former presidents criminal immunity for “core constitutional” duties and presumptive immunity for actions on the “outer perimeter” of official duties, but none for unofficial, personal acts.Two of the justices who joined the conservative majority ruling — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — were Trump appointees. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, also appointed during Trump’s time in the Oval Office, joined them, concurring in part.Trump’s case was delayed for the better part of 2024, tied up in the high court process as he campaigned for a second presidency. The delay ultimately closed the door on a trial before November’s election.The high-profile case not only highlighted the fact that Trump was being judged by his own appointees, but also that two other justices had been recently exposed in ethics scandals involving Republican donors and appearing to show support for Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election.In April 2023, ProPublica&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow" target="_blank">uncovered</a>&nbsp;that Justice Clarence Thomas had been accepting luxury travel and other big ticket gifts from Republican billionaire donor Harlan Crow.In May of this year, the New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;photos of an upside-down American flag flying outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito following the violent riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The upside-down flag, a general symbol of protest, had been adopted by Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election was stolen.All parties have denied any wrongdoing, and Alito&nbsp;<a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter%20from%20Justice%20Alito%20to%20Senators%20Durbin%20and%20Whitehouse.pdf" target="_blank">declined</a>&nbsp;to recuse himself from Trump’s 2020 election subversion case, and another&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/divided-us-supreme-court-wrestles-case-pennsylvania-man-who-joined-jan-6-mob" target="_blank">case</a>&nbsp;brought by a Jan. 6 defendant.<h2>The call for a new ethics code</h2>While the Thomas and Alito scandals attracted the most attention, observers of the court say many of the justices’ actions raise ethics questions.Gabe Roth, founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Fix the Court, said “no justice has totally behaved ethically.”Roth cited transgressions by both conservative and liberal justices: socializing with litigants who argue before the court, the use of government resources to promote a personal book and instances of justices not recusing themselves from cases in which they appear to have a stake.“It hasn’t been to the scale of the things that ProPublica uncovered, but no justice is fully pure when it comes to ethics issues, which is not to say that they’re all corrupt or they’re all compromised by any means. It’s just more, to me, a fact that the whole institution needs to focus more on ethical leadership,” Roth said.ProPublica&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/propublica-work-joshua-kaplan-justin-elliott-brett-murphy-alex-mierjeski-and-kirsten-berg" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;numerous stories in 2023 detailing gifts Thomas never disclosed, as well as a luxury fishing expedition Alito took with a Republican billionaire who argued before the court.The Supreme Court currently polices itself with its own&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf" target="_blank">code</a>&nbsp;of conduct and maintains justices already follow rules that apply to lower federal judges.Congressional Democrats have introduced several bills aiming to impose ethics rules on the justices and limit life-time appointments, for example to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4423/text?s=1&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22supreme+court+term+limits%22%7D" target="_blank">18 years</a>.A bill led by Senate Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/ethics-rules-supreme-court-justices-approved-party-line-vote-us-senate-panel" target="_blank">passed</a>&nbsp;the Democratic-led Senate Committee on the Judiciary in July 2023.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/359/text?s=1&amp;r=4&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22supreme+court+ethics%22%5D%7D" target="_blank">legislation</a>&nbsp;aimed to mandate an enforceable ethics code, tighten recusal and gift disclosure requirements, and establish a complaints process similar to that of the lower courts.An&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1djxXNlOjOkGZ" target="_blank">attempt</a>&nbsp;at unanimous consent passage on the Senate floor in June was blocked by Senate Judiciary’s top Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.“Let’s be clear, this is not about improving the court, this is about undermining the court,” Graham said on the floor.Roth said no matter who wins the presidency and which party takes control of the Senate, the longtime fight for an ethics overhaul and term limits at the high court will continue — and that it shouldn’t be partisan.“If they’re done right, it doesn’t favor one party or another or one ideology or another. It’s a bit weird that one side is saying they don’t love ethics right now,” Roth continued. “I don’t get it.”

Reforms at the U.S. Supreme Court: Where do Harris and Trump stand?

&nbsp;JACKSON COUNTY, Kan. –Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations following a traffic stop.

Just after 7a.m. Oct. 20, a&nbsp;Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a 2024 Nissan Altima for alleged multiple traffic infractions on U.S. Highway 75 near 223rd Lane, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

&nbsp;The driver was identified as 37-year-old Katrina Chantel Barthelemy of Wichita, Kansas. A probable cause search was conducted and resulted in the discovery of ecstasy, hallucinogenic drugs and drug paraphernalia. Barthelemy was booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of ecstasy, possession of hallucinogenic drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729615513335.png" alt="Barthelemy-photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Barthelemy-photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;JACKSON COUNTY, Kan. –Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations following a traffic stop.Just after 7a.m. Oct. 20, a&nbsp;Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a 2024 Nissan Altima for alleged multiple traffic infractions on U.S. Highway 75 near 223rd Lane, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.&nbsp;The driver was identified as 37-year-old Katrina Chantel Barthelemy of Wichita, Kansas. A probable cause search was conducted and resulted in the discovery of ecstasy, hallucinogenic drugs and drug paraphernalia. Barthelemy was booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of ecstasy, possession of hallucinogenic drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Kansas deputy found ecstasy during traffic stop 

SEDGWICK COUNTY—&nbsp;Law enforcement continue their investigation weekend pedestrian accident that left a child dead.

Just after 5:30p.m. Saturday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to a traffic collision involving a pedestrian, later identified as 12-year-old Esamay Heese, and a motor vehicle in 7000 block of W. 13th Street&nbsp; in Wichita, according to Officer Kris Gupilan.

First responders found the girl who had been struck by a westbound Jeep SUV. EMS transported her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.&nbsp; &nbsp;Friends of the family have established<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/mvuuc-help-esamay-hesses-family-in-their-time-of-grief"> an online fundraiser</a> to assist them.

The Wichita Police Department's Critical Accident Team is conducting a thorough investigation, interviewing witnesses to gather additional information on the incident.

Anyone with information regarding this incident who has not yet spoken to investigators is encouraged to contact the Wichita Police Department at 316-268-4407. For those wishing to remain anonymous, please reach out to Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729600729468.png" alt="Esamay Heese GoFundMe" />
 <figcaption>Esamay Heese GoFundMe</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—&nbsp;Law enforcement continue their investigation weekend pedestrian accident that left a child dead.Just after 5:30p.m. Saturday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to a traffic collision involving a pedestrian, later identified as 12-year-old Esamay Heese, and a motor vehicle in 7000 block of W. 13th Street&nbsp; in Wichita, according to Officer Kris Gupilan.First responders found the girl who had been struck by a westbound Jeep SUV. EMS transported her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.&nbsp; &nbsp;Friends of the family have established<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/mvuuc-help-esamay-hesses-family-in-their-time-of-grief"> an online fundraiser</a> to assist them.The Wichita Police Department's Critical Accident Team is conducting a thorough investigation, interviewing witnesses to gather additional information on the incident.Anyone with information regarding this incident who has not yet spoken to investigators is encouraged to contact the Wichita Police Department at 316-268-4407. For those wishing to remain anonymous, please reach out to Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

Online fundraiser for family of Kan. girl struck, killed by SUV

GOP’s two-thirds majorities in House, Senate important on veto overrides

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly expressed optimism a group of quality Democratic candidates and influence of her $2 million political action committee would break in the Nov. 5 election the partisan supermajorities held by Republicans in the both the House and Senate.

Democrats’ priority in this election cycle is picking up a total of five seats in the Legislature to end the GOP’s two-thirds advantage. The GOP supermajorities have been a thorn in the Democratic governor’s side whether the Legislature was voting on individual bills or attempted overrides of Kelly’s vetoes.

“I do think that we will get the two seats that we need in the House and the three that we need in the Senate. Would I like more? Sure, yeah,” Kelly said for the Kansas Reflector podcast.

“I do know that we have&nbsp;really superb candidates running in a lot of our targeted races. Many of them are based in Johnson County, and I think the road to breaking the supermajority will go through Johnson County,” the governor said.

The House is divided among 85 Republicans and 40 Democrats. A two-thirds majority in the House equals 84, meaning Democrats must snatch two seats from Republicans to move the partisan split below the supermajority threshold. Republicans have led the House with a supermajority since 2010.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the Election Day clash over the supermajority was nothing new. He anticipated the GOP would hold onto their House seats and possibly knock off a couple Democrats to pad their margin heading into the 2025 legislative session.

Over in the Senate, there are 29 Republicans and 11 Democrats. A two-thirds majority would be 27, so Democrats set their sights on claiming three seats. Republicans have operated with a Senate supermajority since the election of 1992.

Kelly, who served in the Kansas Senate and is halfway through her second term as governor, said outcome of 2024 legislative elections would color her final two years in office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729533905311.png" alt=" Gov. Laura Kelly predicts voters in the Nov. 5 election will enable Democrats to claim at least two more seats in the Kansas House and three more seats in the Kansas Senate to eliminate the two-thirds supermajority held by Republicans at the Statehouse. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Gov. Laura Kelly predicts voters in the Nov. 5 election will enable Democrats to claim at least two more seats in the Kansas House and three more seats in the Kansas Senate to eliminate the two-thirds supermajority held by Republicans at the Statehouse. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>GOP’s two-thirds majorities in House, Senate important on veto overrides</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly expressed optimism a group of quality Democratic candidates and influence of her $2 million political action committee would break in the Nov. 5 election the partisan supermajorities held by Republicans in the both the House and Senate.Democrats’ priority in this election cycle is picking up a total of five seats in the Legislature to end the GOP’s two-thirds advantage. The GOP supermajorities have been a thorn in the Democratic governor’s side whether the Legislature was voting on individual bills or attempted overrides of Kelly’s vetoes.“I do think that we will get the two seats that we need in the House and the three that we need in the Senate. Would I like more? Sure, yeah,” Kelly said for the Kansas Reflector podcast.“I do know that we have&nbsp;really superb candidates running in a lot of our targeted races. Many of them are based in Johnson County, and I think the road to breaking the supermajority will go through Johnson County,” the governor said.The House is divided among 85 Republicans and 40 Democrats. A two-thirds majority in the House equals 84, meaning Democrats must snatch two seats from Republicans to move the partisan split below the supermajority threshold. Republicans have led the House with a supermajority since 2010.House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the Election Day clash over the supermajority was nothing new. He anticipated the GOP would hold onto their House seats and possibly knock off a couple Democrats to pad their margin heading into the 2025 legislative session.Over in the Senate, there are 29 Republicans and 11 Democrats. A two-thirds majority would be 27, so Democrats set their sights on claiming three seats. Republicans have operated with a Senate supermajority since the election of 1992.Kelly, who served in the Kansas Senate and is halfway through her second term as governor, said outcome of 2024 legislative elections would color her final two years in office.“We’ve really been able to get a whole lot of things done, but there are other things that we’ve got to get done if Kansas is going to continue to move forward,” Kelly said. “If we don’t break the supermajority, then the Legislature is going to continue to pass bad bills that impact our ability in Kansas to really prosper and grow.”The large numerical advantage of Republicans has blocked bills tied to medicinal marijuana and expansion of eligibility for Medicaid health benefits, she said.She said if voters perpetuated GOP supermajorities in Kansas it would embolden Republicans to push for more restrictions on abortion, resume attacks on the LGBTQ community and advance questionable tax reform.“I need Democrats in those seats now to help sustain vetoes on bad legislation,” Kelly said. “That way we’re more attractive for our own people to stay here …&nbsp;instead of leaving the state&nbsp;and much more attractive to businesses coming in.”Kelly said the campaign work of Democrats in this election cycle was heightened because a cadre of Republican legislators who occasionally crossed party lines to sustain her vetoes decided not to seek reelection.“If we break the supermajority, then it will require leadership in both the House and the Senate to work with us and with the Democrat caucus in their respective chambers,” Kelly said.