Kansas Task Force 1 continues to operate, clearing primary search areas and identifying concerns for targeted searches, according to a statement from the Kansas Department of Emergency Management.

&nbsp;Searchers were on foot, used dones or ATVs. The primary search area remained away from the river in the flood inundation zone. The local community support for Kansas-Task Force 1 has been outstanding. Most onsite needs have been provided to the Task Force except for fuel. On Saturday, the day started early as the squads continued their expanded groundwork. When the squads departed Saturday night, their Division was reduced to three targeted searches for Sunday. Kerr County posted on their official website that the number of Kerr County missing was reduced to 3. The following was a comment on one of the posts about Kansas-Task Force 1's deployment. 

 “As Texans, we are so grateful for the help with this devastation. Our daughter brought some HERO bracelets to your finest crews and they were so beyond sweet about it. Bright lights in dark times are so important. We are just so grateful. Thank you for sending help.” - Chelsea Ellenwood

CrabtreeKSFM support staff on the deployment indicated that the highlight on Saturday was the 9-year-old who made friendship bracelets to hand out to team members. There were 50 bracelets to begin with, and she ran out, hoping to be able to make more and bring them to the squad members. On Sunday, the field squads worked the three targeted search areas with K9 assistance and chainsaw teams with heavy equipment available if needed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753094635682.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Kansas Task Force 1 continues to operate, clearing primary search areas and identifying concerns for targeted searches, according to a statement from the Kansas Department of Emergency Management.&nbsp;Searchers were on foot, used dones or ATVs. The primary search area remained away from the river in the flood inundation zone. The local community support for Kansas-Task Force 1 has been outstanding. Most onsite needs have been provided to the Task Force except for fuel. On Saturday, the day started early as the squads continued their expanded groundwork. When the squads departed Saturday night, their Division was reduced to three targeted searches for Sunday. Kerr County posted on their official website that the number of Kerr County missing was reduced to 3. The following was a comment on one of the posts about Kansas-Task Force 1's deployment. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753094653515.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure> “As Texans, we are so grateful for the help with this devastation. Our daughter brought some HERO bracelets to your finest crews and they were so beyond sweet about it. Bright lights in dark times are so important. We are just so grateful. Thank you for sending help.” - Chelsea Ellenwood<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753094616682.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>CrabtreeKSFM support staff on the deployment indicated that the highlight on Saturday was the 9-year-old who made friendship bracelets to hand out to team members. There were 50 bracelets to begin with, and she ran out, hoping to be able to make more and bring them to the squad members. On Sunday, the field squads worked the three targeted search areas with K9 assistance and chainsaw teams with heavy equipment available if needed.

Texans show appreciation for Kansas swift-water rescue team

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating after a man was found dead Sunday morning at Big Eleven Lake in Kansas City, Kansas, according to the Wyandotte County Sheriff.

Just after 10a.m., deputies responded to reports of an unresponsive person in the lake, according to a media release.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department helped remove the body from the water. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not released his name.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating after a man was found dead Sunday morning at Big Eleven Lake in Kansas City, Kansas, according to the Wyandotte County Sheriff.Just after 10a.m., deputies responded to reports of an unresponsive person in the lake, according to a media release.The Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department helped remove the body from the water. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not released his name.

Police: Body of man pulled from Kansas lake

GRANT COUNTY —Law enforcement are alerting the public to a mountain lion in southwest Kansas.

On Saturday, The Ulysses Police Department reported they&nbsp; were aware of the recent sighting of a mountain lion just inside the city limits, according to a social media report from the department.

 Ulysses Police Department is in contact with and currently working with&nbsp; local game wardens.

 If you see or come across this or any large wildlife, leave it alone, do not approach it and contact the Ulysses Police Department.

GRANT COUNTY —Law enforcement are alerting the public to a mountain lion in southwest Kansas.On Saturday, The Ulysses Police Department reported they&nbsp; were aware of the recent sighting of a mountain lion just inside the city limits, according to a social media report from the department. Ulysses Police Department is in contact with and currently working with&nbsp; local game wardens. If you see or come across this or any large wildlife, leave it alone, do not approach it and contact the Ulysses Police Department.

Police report mountain lion in southwest Kansas community

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Law enforcement have identified the two men involved in a deadly shooting Thursday night at Edgewood Homes in Lawrence that left two people dead and a woman critically injured.

Just after 8 p.m.&nbsp; police responded to a shooting call at 1600 Haskell Avenue, according to Police spokesman Laura McCabe.&nbsp; First responders found 21-year-old Javien Hardin inside a vehicle from a gunshot wound.

Police found 24-year-old Donavon Deleon with what officers believe a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A 22-year-old Lawrence woman was also found with life-threatening injuries. She remains in critical condition.

Police said they believe Deleon and the woman had recently ended a relationship. Detectives said the woman arrived home to find Deleon inside her home. After a confrontation, she ran to a vehicle occupied by Hardin.

According to police, Deleon allegedly shot and killed Hardin, then shot the woman before taking his own life. Both men who died were from Lawrence.

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Police continue investigating a shooting that occurred Thursday evening at Edgewood Homes, 1600 Haskell Avenue in Lawrence, which resulted in the deaths of two men and left a woman with life-threatening injuries.

 At approximately 8:05 p.m., police responded to the scene following multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire, according to police spokesperson Laura McCabe.

 At least one caller reported a man running through the parking lot firing a weapon. Upon arrival, officers located three people: a 21-year-old man from Lawrence, dead inside a vehicle from an apparent gunshot wound; a 24-year-old Lawrence man, dead on the ground nearby from what police believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound; and a 22-year-old Lawrence woman suffering from critical injuries as a result of being shot. She was transported to an area trauma center by helicopter for emergency treatment. She remained hospitalized with critical injuries. A preliminary investigation indicates that the deceased male suspect and the female victim had recently ended a relationship, and the woman arrived home to find the suspect in her residence. 

After an altercation inside the residence, she fled to a nearby vehicle where the 21-year-old man was waiting. The suspect then allegedly approached the vehicle and fatally shot the man in the truck before pursuing and shooting the woman as she ran away. 

The suspect is believed to have then taken his own life near the injured victim.

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Law enforcement have identified the two men involved in a deadly shooting Thursday night at Edgewood Homes in Lawrence that left two people dead and a woman critically injured.Just after 8 p.m.&nbsp; police responded to a shooting call at 1600 Haskell Avenue, according to Police spokesman Laura McCabe.&nbsp; First responders found 21-year-old Javien Hardin inside a vehicle from a gunshot wound.Police found 24-year-old Donavon Deleon with what officers believe a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A 22-year-old Lawrence woman was also found with life-threatening injuries. She remains in critical condition.Police said they believe Deleon and the woman had recently ended a relationship. Detectives said the woman arrived home to find Deleon inside her home. After a confrontation, she ran to a vehicle occupied by Hardin.According to police, Deleon allegedly shot and killed Hardin, then shot the woman before taking his own life. Both men who died were from Lawrence.----------------DOUGLAS COUNTY —Police continue investigating a shooting that occurred Thursday evening at Edgewood Homes, 1600 Haskell Avenue in Lawrence, which resulted in the deaths of two men and left a woman with life-threatening injuries. At approximately 8:05 p.m., police responded to the scene following multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire, according to police spokesperson Laura McCabe. At least one caller reported a man running through the parking lot firing a weapon. Upon arrival, officers located three people: a 21-year-old man from Lawrence, dead inside a vehicle from an apparent gunshot wound; a 24-year-old Lawrence man, dead on the ground nearby from what police believe to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound; and a 22-year-old Lawrence woman suffering from critical injuries as a result of being shot. She was transported to an area trauma center by helicopter for emergency treatment. She remained hospitalized with critical injuries. A preliminary investigation indicates that the deceased male suspect and the female victim had recently ended a relationship, and the woman arrived home to find the suspect in her residence. After an altercation inside the residence, she fled to a nearby vehicle where the 21-year-old man was waiting. The suspect then allegedly approached the vehicle and fatally shot the man in the truck before pursuing and shooting the woman as she ran away. The suspect is believed to have then taken his own life near the injured victim.

Domestic violence: Police ID victims who died in Kansas shooting

CLEVELAND (AP) — President Donald Trump is threatening to hold up a new stadium deal for Washington's NFL team if it does not restore its old name of the Redskins, which was considered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dbf8f65947560be30a7952d6cf510ef0">offensive to Native Americans</a>.

Trump also said Sunday that he wants Cleveland's baseball team to revert to its former name, the Indians, saying there was a “big clamoring for this" as well.

The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their current names since the 2022 seasons and both have said they have no plans to change them back.

Trump said the Washington football team would be “much more valuable” if it restored its old name.

“I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington," Trump said on his social media site.

His latest interest in changing the name reflects his broader effort to roll back changes that followed a national debate on cultural sensitivity and racial justice. The team&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nhl-mlb-sports-general-nfl-north-america-b6f6919292f5a3c94cb23d92bde21a54">announced it would drop</a>&nbsp;the Redskins name and the Indian head logo in 2020 during a broader reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality.

The Commanders and the District of Columbia government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-commanders-stadium-3bda9804a246219f28e9a2d2206bb492">announced a deal earlier this year</a>&nbsp;to build a new home for the football team at the site the old RFK Stadium, the place the franchise called home for more than three decades.

Trump's ability to hold up the deal remains to be seen.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-commanders-rfk-stadium-5bf177d95eb5bb1188858f366292ed4e">President Joe Biden signed a bill in January</a>&nbsp;that transferred the land from the federal government to the District of Columbia.

The provision was part of a short-term spending bill passed by Congress in December. While D.C. residents elect a mayor, a city council and commissioners to run day-to-day operations, Congress maintains control of the city’s budget.

Josh Harris, whose group bought the Commanders from former owner Dan Snyder in 2023,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-commanders-name-change-9ac9ba19ec15eb64a6daf7adc91ac7d0">said earlier this year</a>&nbsp;the name was here to stay. Not long after taking over, Harris quieted speculation about going back to Redskins, saying that would not happen. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Trump's statement.

The Washington team started in Boston as the Redskins in 1933 before moving to the nation’s capital four years later.

The Cleveland Guardians' president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, indicated before Sunday's game against the Athletics that there weren't any plans to revisit the name change.

“We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it’s a decision we made. We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that's in front of us," he said.

Cleveland announced in December 2020 it would drop Indians. It announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-guardians-name-change-41849399d222d872eb6f1cae23551c29">the switch to Guardians in July 2021</a>. In 2018, the team phased out "Chief Wahoo” as its primary logo.

The name changes had their share of supporters and critics as part of the national discussions about logos and names considered racist.

Trump posted Sunday afternoon that “The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”

Matt Dolan, the son of the late Larry Dolan, no longer has a role with the Guardians. He ran the team's charity endeavors until 2016.

Matt Dolan was a candidate in the Ohio U.S. Senate elections in 2022 and '24, but lost.

Washington and Cleveland share another thing in common. David Blitzer is a member of Harris’ ownership group with the Commanders and holds a minority stake in the Guardians.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753092667427.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>CLEVELAND (AP) — President Donald Trump is threatening to hold up a new stadium deal for Washington's NFL team if it does not restore its old name of the Redskins, which was considered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dbf8f65947560be30a7952d6cf510ef0">offensive to Native Americans</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753092771360.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Trump also said Sunday that he wants Cleveland's baseball team to revert to its former name, the Indians, saying there was a “big clamoring for this" as well.The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their current names since the 2022 seasons and both have said they have no plans to change them back.Trump said the Washington football team would be “much more valuable” if it restored its old name.“I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington," Trump said on his social media site.His latest interest in changing the name reflects his broader effort to roll back changes that followed a national debate on cultural sensitivity and racial justice. The team&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nhl-mlb-sports-general-nfl-north-america-b6f6919292f5a3c94cb23d92bde21a54">announced it would drop</a>&nbsp;the Redskins name and the Indian head logo in 2020 during a broader reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality.The Commanders and the District of Columbia government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-commanders-stadium-3bda9804a246219f28e9a2d2206bb492">announced a deal earlier this year</a>&nbsp;to build a new home for the football team at the site the old RFK Stadium, the place the franchise called home for more than three decades.Trump's ability to hold up the deal remains to be seen.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-commanders-rfk-stadium-5bf177d95eb5bb1188858f366292ed4e">President Joe Biden signed a bill in January</a>&nbsp;that transferred the land from the federal government to the District of Columbia.The provision was part of a short-term spending bill passed by Congress in December. While D.C. residents elect a mayor, a city council and commissioners to run day-to-day operations, Congress maintains control of the city’s budget.Josh Harris, whose group bought the Commanders from former owner Dan Snyder in 2023,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-commanders-name-change-9ac9ba19ec15eb64a6daf7adc91ac7d0">said earlier this year</a>&nbsp;the name was here to stay. Not long after taking over, Harris quieted speculation about going back to Redskins, saying that would not happen. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Trump's statement.The Washington team started in Boston as the Redskins in 1933 before moving to the nation’s capital four years later.The Cleveland Guardians' president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, indicated before Sunday's game against the Athletics that there weren't any plans to revisit the name change.“We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it’s a decision we made. We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that's in front of us," he said.Cleveland announced in December 2020 it would drop Indians. It announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-guardians-name-change-41849399d222d872eb6f1cae23551c29">the switch to Guardians in July 2021</a>. In 2018, the team phased out "Chief Wahoo” as its primary logo.The name changes had their share of supporters and critics as part of the national discussions about logos and names considered racist.Trump posted Sunday afternoon that “The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”Matt Dolan, the son of the late Larry Dolan, no longer has a role with the Guardians. He ran the team's charity endeavors until 2016.Matt Dolan was a candidate in the Ohio U.S. Senate elections in 2022 and '24, but lost.Washington and Cleveland share another thing in common. David Blitzer is a member of Harris’ ownership group with the Commanders and holds a minority stake in the Guardians.___

Trump issues threat if NFL team won't switch back to Redskins

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson entered the race for governor on Sunday as the 2026 Republican primary field gets more crowded.

Republicans are keen to recapture the governor’s office in GOP-leaning Kansas after Democratic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-donald-trump-kansas-topeka-39afdff811fd2f30a212036d5ec6e3fa">Gov. Laura Kelly narrowly won</a>&nbsp;a second four-year term in 2022. Kelly is term-limited and cannot run again.

Masterson, a small-business owner, has been a state senator representing a district in eastern Kansas since 2009. He became Senate president in 2021. He previously served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008.

Other Republicans in the 2026 governor's race include Secretary of State&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-governors-race-2026-election-conspiracies-4587939711dc7a5effb1879374405147">Scott Schwab</a>, who built his public profile pushing back against&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-lies-trump-republicans-2024-legitimacy-f9b015fb3ead18f5c7b1432415680361">unfounded election conspiracy</a>&nbsp;theories, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-10b15a092b4db17f76515767108437d7">former Gov. Jeff Colyer</a>.

Colyer was elevated to the office for about a year in 2018 after former Gov. Sam Brownback resigned. He failed to get past the primary in that year's gubernatorial election, then entered the 2022 governor's race but dropped out early after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753064640882.png" alt="Ty Masterson&nbsp; announced his run for governor -courtesy image" />
 <figcaption>Ty Masterson&nbsp; announced his run for governor -courtesy image</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson entered the race for governor on Sunday as the 2026 Republican primary field gets more crowded.Republicans are keen to recapture the governor’s office in GOP-leaning Kansas after Democratic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-donald-trump-kansas-topeka-39afdff811fd2f30a212036d5ec6e3fa">Gov. Laura Kelly narrowly won</a>&nbsp;a second four-year term in 2022. Kelly is term-limited and cannot run again.Masterson, a small-business owner, has been a state senator representing a district in eastern Kansas since 2009. He became Senate president in 2021. He previously served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008.Other Republicans in the 2026 governor's race include Secretary of State&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-governors-race-2026-election-conspiracies-4587939711dc7a5effb1879374405147">Scott Schwab</a>, who built his public profile pushing back against&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-lies-trump-republicans-2024-legitimacy-f9b015fb3ead18f5c7b1432415680361">unfounded election conspiracy</a>&nbsp;theories, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-10b15a092b4db17f76515767108437d7">former Gov. Jeff Colyer</a>.Colyer was elevated to the office for about a year in 2018 after former Gov. Sam Brownback resigned. He failed to get past the primary in that year's gubernatorial election, then entered the 2022 governor's race but dropped out early after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Kansas Republican senate president announces 2026 gubernatorial bid

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/abby-sewell">ABBY SEWELL</a>

BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S. envoy doubled down on Washington’s support for the new government in Syria, saying Monday there is “no Plan B” to working with the current authorities to unite the country still reeling from a nearly 14-year civil war and now wracked by a new&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-bedouin-clashes-israel-f066b472abcb9c1d546b4e3d713feadd">outbreak of sectarian violence.</a>

He took a critical tone toward&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-violence-druze-israel-turkey-aa6a4ee7058074a5dcc6c53a8a8c20ad">Israel’s recent intervention</a>&nbsp;in Syria, calling it poorly timed and saying that it complicated efforts to stabilize the region.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-us-ambassador-residence-ties-f0e22df744565ad6a6503c9c7d90972c">Tom Barrack,</a>&nbsp;who is ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria and also has a short-term mandate in Lebanon, made the comments in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut. He spoke following more than a week of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-clashes-druze-bedouins-israel-turkey-f4aed41583752c68c44bfc8c21b70520">clashes in the southern province of Sweida</a>&nbsp;between militias of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-damascus-alsharaa-sweida-war-ace48a6e138dc1197cca77c3d25d829b">Druze religious minority</a>&nbsp;and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes.

Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to restore order, but ended up siding with the Bedouins before withdrawing under a ceasefire agreement with Druze factions. Hundreds have been killed in the fighting, and some government fighters allegedly shot dead Druze civilians and burned and looted their houses.

In the meantime,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-clashes-druze-bedouins-sweida-be7e45ae4adc631b758d2bebfb06e0a1">Israel intervened last week</a>&nbsp;on behalf of the Druze, who are seen as a loyal minority within Israel and often serve in its military. Israel launched dozens of strikes on convoys of government forces in Sweida and also struck the Syrian Ministry of Defense headquarters in central Damascus.

Over the weekend,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-bedouins-israel-clashes-fighting-54476ab26aac668babe858aa805b7170">Barrack announced a ceasefire</a>&nbsp;between Syria and Israel, without giving details. Syrian government forces have redeployed in Sweida to halt renewed clashes between the Druze and Bedouins, and civilians from both sides were set to be evacuated Monday.

US envoy says Israeli intervention ‘came at a very bad time’

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said that Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the conflict in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been engaging in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward a full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address the broader issues between the two countries, including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to came to an agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

“Whether you accept that Israel can intervene in a sovereign state is a different question,” he said.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

“Strong nation states are a threat — especially Arab states are viewed as a threat to Israel,” he said. But in Syria, he said, “I think all of the the minority communities are smart enough to say, we’re better off together, centralized.”

A Damascus deal with Kurdish forces still in play

The violence in Sweida has deepened the distrust of minority religious and ethnic groups in Syria toward the new government in Damascus, led by Sunni Muslim former insurgents who unseated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-assad-ousted-rebel-offensive-timeline-8c54a8b97803d4b10cde53b97227128e">Syria’s longtime autocratic ruler, Bashar Assad,</a>&nbsp;in a lightning offensive in December.

The attacks on Druze civilians followed the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-alawites-sectarian-killings-coast-assad-hts-610cdee1d5762d3ecb75c700fb7cf5f2">deaths of hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority</a>&nbsp;to which Assad belongs earlier this year in sectarian revenge attacks on the Syrian coast. While interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has promised to protect minorities and punish those who target civilians, many feel his government has not done enough to stop such attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.

At the same time, Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-hts-clashes-alawites-sunnis-lattakia-assad-b92c8532c40a3c7105ba32307ffaef48">an agreement that would merge</a>&nbsp;the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.

Barrack, who spoke to SDF leader Mazloum Abdi over the weekend, said he does not believe the violence in Sweida will derail those talks and that there could be a breakthrough “in the coming weeks.”

Neighboring Turkey, which wants to curtail the influence of Kurdish groups along its border and has tense relations with Israel, has offered to provide defense assistance to Syria.

Barrack said the U.S. has “no position” on the prospect of a defense pact between Syria and Turkey.

“It’s not in the U.S.’s business or interest to tell any of the surrounding nations with each other what to do,” he said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753092057284.png" alt="Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria. -courtesy image" />
 <figcaption>Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria. -courtesy image</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/abby-sewell">ABBY SEWELL</a>BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S. envoy doubled down on Washington’s support for the new government in Syria, saying Monday there is “no Plan B” to working with the current authorities to unite the country still reeling from a nearly 14-year civil war and now wracked by a new&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-bedouin-clashes-israel-f066b472abcb9c1d546b4e3d713feadd">outbreak of sectarian violence.</a>He took a critical tone toward&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-violence-druze-israel-turkey-aa6a4ee7058074a5dcc6c53a8a8c20ad">Israel’s recent intervention</a>&nbsp;in Syria, calling it poorly timed and saying that it complicated efforts to stabilize the region.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-us-ambassador-residence-ties-f0e22df744565ad6a6503c9c7d90972c">Tom Barrack,</a>&nbsp;who is ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria and also has a short-term mandate in Lebanon, made the comments in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut. He spoke following more than a week of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-clashes-druze-bedouins-israel-turkey-f4aed41583752c68c44bfc8c21b70520">clashes in the southern province of Sweida</a>&nbsp;between militias of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-damascus-alsharaa-sweida-war-ace48a6e138dc1197cca77c3d25d829b">Druze religious minority</a>&nbsp;and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes.Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to restore order, but ended up siding with the Bedouins before withdrawing under a ceasefire agreement with Druze factions. Hundreds have been killed in the fighting, and some government fighters allegedly shot dead Druze civilians and burned and looted their houses.In the meantime,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-clashes-druze-bedouins-sweida-be7e45ae4adc631b758d2bebfb06e0a1">Israel intervened last week</a>&nbsp;on behalf of the Druze, who are seen as a loyal minority within Israel and often serve in its military. Israel launched dozens of strikes on convoys of government forces in Sweida and also struck the Syrian Ministry of Defense headquarters in central Damascus.Over the weekend,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-druze-bedouins-israel-clashes-fighting-54476ab26aac668babe858aa805b7170">Barrack announced a ceasefire</a>&nbsp;between Syria and Israel, without giving details. Syrian government forces have redeployed in Sweida to halt renewed clashes between the Druze and Bedouins, and civilians from both sides were set to be evacuated Monday.<h2>US envoy says Israeli intervention ‘came at a very bad time’</h2>Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”However, he said that Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”Prior to the conflict in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been engaging in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward a full normalization of diplomatic relations.When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address the broader issues between the two countries, including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to came to an agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.“Whether you accept that Israel can intervene in a sovereign state is a different question,” he said.He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.“Strong nation states are a threat — especially Arab states are viewed as a threat to Israel,” he said. But in Syria, he said, “I think all of the the minority communities are smart enough to say, we’re better off together, centralized.”<h2>A Damascus deal with Kurdish forces still in play</h2>The violence in Sweida has deepened the distrust of minority religious and ethnic groups in Syria toward the new government in Damascus, led by Sunni Muslim former insurgents who unseated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-assad-ousted-rebel-offensive-timeline-8c54a8b97803d4b10cde53b97227128e">Syria’s longtime autocratic ruler, Bashar Assad,</a>&nbsp;in a lightning offensive in December.The attacks on Druze civilians followed the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-alawites-sectarian-killings-coast-assad-hts-610cdee1d5762d3ecb75c700fb7cf5f2">deaths of hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority</a>&nbsp;to which Assad belongs earlier this year in sectarian revenge attacks on the Syrian coast. While interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has promised to protect minorities and punish those who target civilians, many feel his government has not done enough to stop such attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.At the same time, Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/syria-hts-clashes-alawites-sunnis-lattakia-assad-b92c8532c40a3c7105ba32307ffaef48">an agreement that would merge</a>&nbsp;the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.Barrack, who spoke to SDF leader Mazloum Abdi over the weekend, said he does not believe the violence in Sweida will derail those talks and that there could be a breakthrough “in the coming weeks.”Neighboring Turkey, which wants to curtail the influence of Kurdish groups along its border and has tense relations with Israel, has offered to provide defense assistance to Syria.Barrack said the U.S. has “no position” on the prospect of a defense pact between Syria and Turkey.“It’s not in the U.S.’s business or interest to tell any of the surrounding nations with each other what to do,” he said.

US doubles down on support for Syria's government, criticizes Israel's intervention

BY&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/mchilson/">MORGAN CHILSON</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The federal government has renewed efforts to gather personal data of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in Kansas, giving the state a July 30 deadline to respond.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families received the request on July 9, said spokeswoman Jenalea Randall.&nbsp;

“We are still reviewing the published notice in order to understand the intent behind this request and how the data will be used,” she said. “Our obligation to maintain these records in confidence is paramount, and they may only be disclosed to the USDA for specific program-related reasons.”&nbsp;

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/admin/database-letter" target="_blank">sent the letter to states</a>, once again demanding private information about SNAP recipients, including Social Security numbers and home addresses, to be turned over by July 30.&nbsp;

The information was necessary to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order that each federal agency access data from all state programs that receive federal funding, Rollins said in the letter.&nbsp;

Nationally, the demand is being challenged in court by students, SNAP recipients, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. On Thursday, the group filed a motion asking for a restraining order to stop the latest attempt at data collection while the lawsuit is pending, according to a press release.&nbsp;

The Trump administration initially asked for the data in May, and&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/05/22/kansas-denies-usda-request-for-personal-data-of-residents-receiving-food-assistance/">DCF denied it</a>. In a letter to a third-party data provider, DCF’s Carla Whiteside-Hicks, director of economic and employment services, said the agency has an obligation to maintain the records in confidence.&nbsp;

“At this time, we are unsure as to the reason for the USDA’s request. As such, we are unable to consent to your turning the information over,” she wrote.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend that in a sworn&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defendstudents.org/news/body/2025.05.30-Dkt-11-1-Corley-Decl..pdf" target="_blank">declaration</a>&nbsp;dated May 30, a top USDA official at the agency promised it would not move forward without following federal laws.

Instead, the agency made this new demand, which the plaintiffs in the case said violates the Privacy Act, Paperwork Reduction Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

“This Administration is trying to work the system,” said Madeline Wiseman, counsel at the National Student Legal Defense Network, in a press release. “After promising in court to follow proper procedures, USDA’s actions out of the courtroom continue to demonstrate a disregard for the legal requirements that limit its ability to collect and use this data. This lawlessness must be stopped.”

Randall said a hearing in the lawsuit is set for July 23, 2025, to address the temporary restraining order the plaintiffs have requested.

The Trump administration, through the Department of Justice, also is attempting to access other sensitive data from voter registrations,&nbsp;<a href="https://stateline.org/2025/07/16/trumps-doj-wants-states-to-turn-over-voter-lists-election-info/" target="_blank">according to Stateline</a>.&nbsp;

So far, no requests have been made in Kansas, said Whitney Tempel, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Scott Schwab.&nbsp;

“While we’ve had discussions with the Department of Justice about general voter roll maintenance, they have not requested access to our voter data,” she said in an email. “We explained Kansas’ voter roll maintenance to DOJ, how we remove for death, non-citizen, felony, moving, etc.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752972308720.png" alt="U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, testifying here before the Appropriations Committee, sent a letter July 9, 2025, to Kansas asking for personal information about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. (Senate webcast)" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, testifying here before the Appropriations Committee, sent a letter July 9, 2025, to Kansas asking for personal information about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. (Senate webcast)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/mchilson/">MORGAN CHILSON</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The federal government has renewed efforts to gather personal data of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in Kansas, giving the state a July 30 deadline to respond.The Kansas Department for Children and Families received the request on July 9, said spokeswoman Jenalea Randall.&nbsp;“We are still reviewing the published notice in order to understand the intent behind this request and how the data will be used,” she said. “Our obligation to maintain these records in confidence is paramount, and they may only be disclosed to the USDA for specific program-related reasons.”&nbsp;U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/admin/database-letter" target="_blank">sent the letter to states</a>, once again demanding private information about SNAP recipients, including Social Security numbers and home addresses, to be turned over by July 30.&nbsp;The information was necessary to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order that each federal agency access data from all state programs that receive federal funding, Rollins said in the letter.&nbsp;Nationally, the demand is being challenged in court by students, SNAP recipients, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. On Thursday, the group filed a motion asking for a restraining order to stop the latest attempt at data collection while the lawsuit is pending, according to a press release.&nbsp;The Trump administration initially asked for the data in May, and&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/05/22/kansas-denies-usda-request-for-personal-data-of-residents-receiving-food-assistance/">DCF denied it</a>. In a letter to a third-party data provider, DCF’s Carla Whiteside-Hicks, director of economic and employment services, said the agency has an obligation to maintain the records in confidence.&nbsp;“At this time, we are unsure as to the reason for the USDA’s request. As such, we are unable to consent to your turning the information over,” she wrote.Plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend that in a sworn&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defendstudents.org/news/body/2025.05.30-Dkt-11-1-Corley-Decl..pdf" target="_blank">declaration</a>&nbsp;dated May 30, a top USDA official at the agency promised it would not move forward without following federal laws.Instead, the agency made this new demand, which the plaintiffs in the case said violates the Privacy Act, Paperwork Reduction Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.“This Administration is trying to work the system,” said Madeline Wiseman, counsel at the National Student Legal Defense Network, in a press release. “After promising in court to follow proper procedures, USDA’s actions out of the courtroom continue to demonstrate a disregard for the legal requirements that limit its ability to collect and use this data. This lawlessness must be stopped.”Randall said a hearing in the lawsuit is set for July 23, 2025, to address the temporary restraining order the plaintiffs have requested.The Trump administration, through the Department of Justice, also is attempting to access other sensitive data from voter registrations,&nbsp;<a href="https://stateline.org/2025/07/16/trumps-doj-wants-states-to-turn-over-voter-lists-election-info/" target="_blank">according to Stateline</a>.&nbsp;So far, no requests have been made in Kansas, said Whitney Tempel, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Scott Schwab.&nbsp;“While we’ve had discussions with the Department of Justice about general voter roll maintenance, they have not requested access to our voter data,” she said in an email. “We explained Kansas’ voter roll maintenance to DOJ, how we remove for death, non-citizen, felony, moving, etc.”

USDA again asks for Kansans’ personal data, as lawsuit seeks privacy protections

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department will release $1.3 billion in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-education-summer-school-english-language-grants-fac670e8f60fab397fbd68dfed866ea1">previously withheld grant money</a>&nbsp;for after-school programs, days after 10 Republican senators sent a letter imploring the Trump administration to allow frozen education money to be sent to states.

President Donald Trump’s administration on July 1 withheld more than $6 billion in federal grants for after-school and summer programs, adult literacy and English language instruction, part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.

In a letter sent Wednesday, Republican senators said the withheld money supported programs that had longstanding bipartisan support and were critical to local communities. The money had been appropriated by Congress in a bill that was signed by Trump.

“We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-education-grant-funding-immigration-093aa36735f5d50de7406ee8465e1729">radical left-wing programs</a>,” the senators wrote to the Office of Management and Budget. “However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds.”

The administration's review of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which support after-school and summer programming, has been completed, a senior official said Friday. The person declined to be identified so they could share progress from the review. That funding will be released to states, the official said. The rest of the withheld grants, close to $5 billion, continues to be reviewed for bias by the Office of Management and Budget.

Without the money, school districts and nonprofits such as the YMCA and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boys-girls-club-trump-grant-freeze-6f5bd3204d2973784d466e3f0fdb38b4">Boys and Girls Club of America</a>&nbsp;had said they would have to close or scale back educational offerings this fall.

The money being released Friday pays for free programming before and after school and during the summer. The programs provide child care so low-income parents can work, and they give options to families who live in rural areas with few other child care providers. Beyond just child care, kids receive reading and math help at the programs, along with enrichment in science and the arts.

Despite the money's release Friday, schools and nonprofits have already been disrupted by two weeks of uncertainty. Some programs have made plans to close, and others have fallen behind on hiring and contracting for the fall.

“While we are thrilled the funds will be made available," said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, “the administration’s inexplicable delay in disbursing them caused massive chaos and harm." Many after-school programs had canceled plans to open in the fall, she said.

On Monday, more than 20 states had filed a lawsuit challenging the $6 billion funding freeze, including the money for English language instruction, teacher development and adult literacy that remains on hold. The lawsuit, led by California, argued withholding the money was unconstitutional and many low-income families would lose access to critical after-school care if the grants were not released.

David Schuler, executive director of AASA, an association of school superintendents, praised the release of after-school money but said that the remaining education funding should not be withheld.

“Districts should not be in this impossible position where the Administration is denying funds that had already been appropriated to our public schools, by Congress,” Schuler said in a statement. “The remaining funds must be released immediately — America’s children are counting on it.”

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending, led the letter sent this week by Republican senators, protesting the funding freeze. The letter called for the rest of the money to be released, including funds for adult education and teaching English as a second language.

“The decision to withhold this funding is contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states,” the senators wrote. “This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent.”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, called on the White House to release the rest of the money.

“At this very moment, schools nationwide are crunching the numbers to figure out how many teachers they will need to lay off as Trump continues to hold up billions in funding,” Murray said Friday in a statement. “Every penny of this funding must flow immediately.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752591280762.jpg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department will release $1.3 billion in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-education-summer-school-english-language-grants-fac670e8f60fab397fbd68dfed866ea1">previously withheld grant money</a>&nbsp;for after-school programs, days after 10 Republican senators sent a letter imploring the Trump administration to allow frozen education money to be sent to states.President Donald Trump’s administration on July 1 withheld more than $6 billion in federal grants for after-school and summer programs, adult literacy and English language instruction, part of a review to ensure spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.In a letter sent Wednesday, Republican senators said the withheld money supported programs that had longstanding bipartisan support and were critical to local communities. The money had been appropriated by Congress in a bill that was signed by Trump.“We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-education-grant-funding-immigration-093aa36735f5d50de7406ee8465e1729">radical left-wing programs</a>,” the senators wrote to the Office of Management and Budget. “However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds.”The administration's review of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which support after-school and summer programming, has been completed, a senior official said Friday. The person declined to be identified so they could share progress from the review. That funding will be released to states, the official said. The rest of the withheld grants, close to $5 billion, continues to be reviewed for bias by the Office of Management and Budget.Without the money, school districts and nonprofits such as the YMCA and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boys-girls-club-trump-grant-freeze-6f5bd3204d2973784d466e3f0fdb38b4">Boys and Girls Club of America</a>&nbsp;had said they would have to close or scale back educational offerings this fall.The money being released Friday pays for free programming before and after school and during the summer. The programs provide child care so low-income parents can work, and they give options to families who live in rural areas with few other child care providers. Beyond just child care, kids receive reading and math help at the programs, along with enrichment in science and the arts.Despite the money's release Friday, schools and nonprofits have already been disrupted by two weeks of uncertainty. Some programs have made plans to close, and others have fallen behind on hiring and contracting for the fall.“While we are thrilled the funds will be made available," said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, “the administration’s inexplicable delay in disbursing them caused massive chaos and harm." Many after-school programs had canceled plans to open in the fall, she said.On Monday, more than 20 states had filed a lawsuit challenging the $6 billion funding freeze, including the money for English language instruction, teacher development and adult literacy that remains on hold. The lawsuit, led by California, argued withholding the money was unconstitutional and many low-income families would lose access to critical after-school care if the grants were not released.David Schuler, executive director of AASA, an association of school superintendents, praised the release of after-school money but said that the remaining education funding should not be withheld.“Districts should not be in this impossible position where the Administration is denying funds that had already been appropriated to our public schools, by Congress,” Schuler said in a statement. “The remaining funds must be released immediately — America’s children are counting on it.”Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees education spending, led the letter sent this week by Republican senators, protesting the funding freeze. The letter called for the rest of the money to be released, including funds for adult education and teaching English as a second language.“The decision to withhold this funding is contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states,” the senators wrote. “This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent.”Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, called on the White House to release the rest of the money.“At this very moment, schools nationwide are crunching the numbers to figure out how many teachers they will need to lay off as Trump continues to hold up billions in funding,” Murray said Friday in a statement. “Every penny of this funding must flow immediately.”

Education Department will release some frozen grants supporting after-school, summer programs

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela on Friday released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for getting home scores of migrants&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-venezuela-tren-de-aragua-trump-0d3485e0985b9d30d493c9da0adf73ef">deported by the United States</a>&nbsp;to El Salvador months ago under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, officials said.

The complex, three-country arrangement represents a diplomatic achievement for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, helps President Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele a swap that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-bukele-maduro-venezuela-prisoners-6728d1df2445d85bd16c6ab8a85056a8">he proposed months ago</a>.

“Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement in which he thanked&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-bukele-el-salvador-crackdown-dissent-el-faro-7e54e98156ec1954f7de7c578ca94427">Bukele, a Trump ally</a>.

Bukele said El Salvador had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody. Maduro described Friday as “a day of blessings and good news for Venezuela." He called it “the perfect day for Venezuela.”

Venezuelans leave El Salvador's mega-prison

Central to the deal are more than 250 Venezuelan migrants freed by El Salvador, which in March&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-deportations-salvador-tren-aragua-64e72142a171ea57c869c3b35eeecce7">agreed to a $6 million</a>&nbsp;payment from the Trump administration to house them in its notorious prison.

That arrangement drew immediate blowback when Trump invoked an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alien-enemies-trump-immigration-deportations-21a62ede23b8c493b60d00a9c125722f">18th century wartime law</a>, the Alien Enemies Act, to quickly remove the men that his administration had accused of belonging to the violent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-alien-enemies-act-venezuela-tren-de-aragua-gabbard-d818cc58962ba90cd2c94ca1b494d4fd">Tren de Aragua</a>&nbsp;street gang,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-deportations-el-salvador-9988b667199e1b02fc0a6a83570225c1">teeing up a legal fight</a>&nbsp;that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The administration did not provide evidence to back up those claims.

The Venezuelans had been held in a mega-prison known as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-trump-prison-immigrants-4ab3fc3c0474efb308084604b61f8a37">the Terrorism Confinement Center</a>, or CECOT, which was built to hold alleged gang members in Bukele’s war on the country’s gangs. Human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-gangs-prison-nayib-bukele-a9e7cae418f5de74837bd666cdeabe98">cases of torture</a>&nbsp;inside its walls.

Lawyers have little access to those in the prison, which is heavily guarded, and information has been locked tight, other than heavily produced state propaganda videos showing tattooed men packed behind bars.

Photos and videos released by El Salvador’s government on Friday showed shackled Venezuelans sitting in a fleet of buses and boarding planes surrounded by officers in riot gear. One man looked up and pointed toward the sky as he climbed aboard a plane, while another made an obscene gesture toward police.

After arriving in Venezuela, some of the migrants crossed themselves, cried and hugged one another. They wore face masks and street clothes.

Maduro alleged that some of them were subjected to various forms of abuse at the Salvadoran prison, and one of them even lost a kidney “due to the beatings he received.”

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told reporters the men would undergo medical tests and background checks before they can go home.

One of the men is reportedly Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist who fled Venezuela last year and was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at a border crossing in San Diego before eventually being flown to El Salvador.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., posted on social media Friday night: “We have been in touch with Andry Hernández Romero’s legal team and they have confirmed he is out of CECOT and back in Venezuela. We are grateful he is alive and are engaged with both the State Department and his team.”

In April, Bukele proposed exchanging the Venezuelans for the same number of what he called “political prisoners” held by Maduro. The suggestion provoked a harsh response from Venezuelan authorities, who called his comments “cynical” and referred to Bukele as a “neofascist."

Families say the Americans released are innocent

The State Department office responsible for negotiating the release of American detainees posted a photo Friday evening of the newly released prisoners smiling for the camera inside an airplane bringing them home, some clutching an unfurled American flag.

A plane carrying the freed Americans arrived late Friday evening at Joint Base San Antonio, with some waving flags and rushing to embrace welcomers after they landed.

Among those released was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, whose family says he was kidnapped in January by Venezuelan border guards from inside Colombia, where he was vacationing.

“We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” his younger sister Sophie Hunter said.

Venezuelan authorities detained nearly a dozen U.S. citizens in the second half of 2024 and linked them to alleged plots to destabilize the country.

“We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime," said a statement from Christian Castaneda, whose brother Wilbert, a Navy SEAL, was arrested in his Caracas hotel room last year.

Global Reach, a nonprofit organization that had advocated for his release and that of several other Americans, said Venezuelan officials initially and falsely accused him of being involved in a coup but backed off that claim.

The three-country swap gives Maduro a boost

The release of the Venezuelans, meanwhile, is an invaluable win for Maduro as he presses his efforts to assert himself as president despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-election-tally-sheets-actas-oas-carter-center-41d1000926d0ab99e522e53bf6c2b916">credible evidence that he lost reelection</a>&nbsp;last year.

Long accused of human rights abuses, Maduro for months has used the migrants' detention in El Salvador to flip the script on the U.S. government, forcing even some of his strongest political opponents to agree with his condemnation of the migrants’ treatment.

Their return will allow Maduro to reaffirm support within his shrinking base, while demonstrating that even if the Trump administration and other nations&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-oil-license-chevron-opposition-edmundo-4fe1b86da38a46b67f2090c2155a9b10">see him as an illegitimate president</a>, he is still firmly in power.

Just a week ago, the U.S. State Department reiterated its policy of shunning Maduro government officials and recognizing only the National Assembly elected in 2015 as the legitimate government of the country. Signed by Rubio, the cable said U.S. officials are free to meet and have discussions with National Assembly members “but cannot engage with Maduro regime representatives unless cleared by the Department of State.”

Maduro's crackdown on dissent spurs detentions

The Americans were among dozens of people, including activists, opposition members and union leaders, that Venezuela’s government took into custody in its brutal campaign to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-election-maduro-opposition-human-rights-abuses-dd6d0b103adbf88f00fe60b0d781a873">crack down on dissent</a>&nbsp;in the 11 months since Maduro claimed to win reelection.

Besides the U.S., several other Western nations also do not recognize Maduro’s claim to victory. They instead point to tally sheets collected by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-machado-biden-gonzalez-a625eb01979bc9cf5570d03242f198b1">opposition coalition</a>&nbsp;showing that its candidate,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-edmundo-opposition-presidential-election-reward-arrest-5b6bf23e53642db059304bef14d2f4ff">Edmundo González</a>, won the July 2024 election by a more than a two-to-one margin.

The dispute over results prompted immediate protests, and the government responded by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-election-arrests-repression-prison-opposition-c07ddb20770f02139e4f4a05d7bc4f60">detaining more than 2,000 people</a>, mostly poor young men. González fled into exile in Spain to avoid arrest.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have migrated since 2013, when its oil-dependent economy came undone and Maduro became president. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, many saw the U.S. as their best chance to improve their living conditions.

The US and Venezuela have agreed on other releases

Despite the U.S. not recognizing Maduro, the two governments have carried out other recent exchanges.

In May,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-national-freed-detention-272f5262f22808ae11ac0e06183a3219">Venezuela freed a U.S. Air Force veteran</a>&nbsp;after about six months in detention. Joseph St. Clair's family has said the language specialist, who served four tours in Afghanistan, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Three months earlier,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-maduro-envoy-migrants-grenell-edfa58920c0a76f0bbe9de995a07d1a3">six other Americans</a>&nbsp;whom the U.S. government considered wrongfully detained in Venezuela were released after Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions, met with Maduro at the presidential palace.

Grenell, during the meeting in Caracas, urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans have since been deported to their home country.

Maduro’s government had accused the Trump administration of “kidnapping” the children by placing them in foster care after their parents were deported.

This story has been corrected to reflect that the last name of the brother of the Navy SEAL jailed in Venezuela is Castaneda, not Castenada.

Tucker reported from Washington and Janetsky from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Seung Min Kim in Washington and photographer Salvador Melendez in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752970350311.jpeg" alt="This photo released by the El Salvador's presidential press office shows men, who El Salvador's government identify as Venezuelans who the U.S. government detained and flew to El Salvador months ago, boarding a Venezuelan plane bound for Venezuela at the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, Friday, July 18, 2025. (El Salvador's presidential press office via AP)" />
 <figcaption>This photo released by the El Salvador's presidential press office shows men, who El Salvador's government identify as Venezuelans who the U.S. government detained and flew to El Salvador months ago, boarding a Venezuelan plane bound for Venezuela at the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, Friday, July 18, 2025. (El Salvador's presidential press office via AP)</figcaption>
 </figure>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela on Friday released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for getting home scores of migrants&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-venezuela-tren-de-aragua-trump-0d3485e0985b9d30d493c9da0adf73ef">deported by the United States</a>&nbsp;to El Salvador months ago under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, officials said.The complex, three-country arrangement represents a diplomatic achievement for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, helps President Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele a swap that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-bukele-maduro-venezuela-prisoners-6728d1df2445d85bd16c6ab8a85056a8">he proposed months ago</a>.“Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement in which he thanked&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-bukele-el-salvador-crackdown-dissent-el-faro-7e54e98156ec1954f7de7c578ca94427">Bukele, a Trump ally</a>.Bukele said El Salvador had handed over all the Venezuelan nationals in its custody. Maduro described Friday as “a day of blessings and good news for Venezuela." He called it “the perfect day for Venezuela.”<h2>Venezuelans leave El Salvador's mega-prison</h2>Central to the deal are more than 250 Venezuelan migrants freed by El Salvador, which in March&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-deportations-salvador-tren-aragua-64e72142a171ea57c869c3b35eeecce7">agreed to a $6 million</a>&nbsp;payment from the Trump administration to house them in its notorious prison.That arrangement drew immediate blowback when Trump invoked an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alien-enemies-trump-immigration-deportations-21a62ede23b8c493b60d00a9c125722f">18th century wartime law</a>, the Alien Enemies Act, to quickly remove the men that his administration had accused of belonging to the violent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-alien-enemies-act-venezuela-tren-de-aragua-gabbard-d818cc58962ba90cd2c94ca1b494d4fd">Tren de Aragua</a>&nbsp;street gang,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-deportations-el-salvador-9988b667199e1b02fc0a6a83570225c1">teeing up a legal fight</a>&nbsp;that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The administration did not provide evidence to back up those claims.The Venezuelans had been held in a mega-prison known as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-trump-prison-immigrants-4ab3fc3c0474efb308084604b61f8a37">the Terrorism Confinement Center</a>, or CECOT, which was built to hold alleged gang members in Bukele’s war on the country’s gangs. Human rights groups have documented hundreds of deaths as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-gangs-prison-nayib-bukele-a9e7cae418f5de74837bd666cdeabe98">cases of torture</a>&nbsp;inside its walls.Lawyers have little access to those in the prison, which is heavily guarded, and information has been locked tight, other than heavily produced state propaganda videos showing tattooed men packed behind bars.Photos and videos released by El Salvador’s government on Friday showed shackled Venezuelans sitting in a fleet of buses and boarding planes surrounded by officers in riot gear. One man looked up and pointed toward the sky as he climbed aboard a plane, while another made an obscene gesture toward police.After arriving in Venezuela, some of the migrants crossed themselves, cried and hugged one another. They wore face masks and street clothes.Maduro alleged that some of them were subjected to various forms of abuse at the Salvadoran prison, and one of them even lost a kidney “due to the beatings he received.”Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told reporters the men would undergo medical tests and background checks before they can go home.One of the men is reportedly Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist who fled Venezuela last year and was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at a border crossing in San Diego before eventually being flown to El Salvador.Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., posted on social media Friday night: “We have been in touch with Andry Hernández Romero’s legal team and they have confirmed he is out of CECOT and back in Venezuela. We are grateful he is alive and are engaged with both the State Department and his team.”In April, Bukele proposed exchanging the Venezuelans for the same number of what he called “political prisoners” held by Maduro. The suggestion provoked a harsh response from Venezuelan authorities, who called his comments “cynical” and referred to Bukele as a “neofascist."<h2>Families say the Americans released are innocent</h2>The State Department office responsible for negotiating the release of American detainees posted a photo Friday evening of the newly released prisoners smiling for the camera inside an airplane bringing them home, some clutching an unfurled American flag.A plane carrying the freed Americans arrived late Friday evening at Joint Base San Antonio, with some waving flags and rushing to embrace welcomers after they landed.Among those released was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, whose family says he was kidnapped in January by Venezuelan border guards from inside Colombia, where he was vacationing.“We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” his younger sister Sophie Hunter said.Venezuelan authorities detained nearly a dozen U.S. citizens in the second half of 2024 and linked them to alleged plots to destabilize the country.“We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime," said a statement from Christian Castaneda, whose brother Wilbert, a Navy SEAL, was arrested in his Caracas hotel room last year.Global Reach, a nonprofit organization that had advocated for his release and that of several other Americans, said Venezuelan officials initially and falsely accused him of being involved in a coup but backed off that claim.<h2>The three-country swap gives Maduro a boost</h2>The release of the Venezuelans, meanwhile, is an invaluable win for Maduro as he presses his efforts to assert himself as president despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-election-tally-sheets-actas-oas-carter-center-41d1000926d0ab99e522e53bf6c2b916">credible evidence that he lost reelection</a>&nbsp;last year.Long accused of human rights abuses, Maduro for months has used the migrants' detention in El Salvador to flip the script on the U.S. government, forcing even some of his strongest political opponents to agree with his condemnation of the migrants’ treatment.Their return will allow Maduro to reaffirm support within his shrinking base, while demonstrating that even if the Trump administration and other nations&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-oil-license-chevron-opposition-edmundo-4fe1b86da38a46b67f2090c2155a9b10">see him as an illegitimate president</a>, he is still firmly in power.Just a week ago, the U.S. State Department reiterated its policy of shunning Maduro government officials and recognizing only the National Assembly elected in 2015 as the legitimate government of the country. Signed by Rubio, the cable said U.S. officials are free to meet and have discussions with National Assembly members “but cannot engage with Maduro regime representatives unless cleared by the Department of State.”<h2>Maduro's crackdown on dissent spurs detentions</h2>The Americans were among dozens of people, including activists, opposition members and union leaders, that Venezuela’s government took into custody in its brutal campaign to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-election-maduro-opposition-human-rights-abuses-dd6d0b103adbf88f00fe60b0d781a873">crack down on dissent</a>&nbsp;in the 11 months since Maduro claimed to win reelection.Besides the U.S., several other Western nations also do not recognize Maduro’s claim to victory. They instead point to tally sheets collected by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-machado-biden-gonzalez-a625eb01979bc9cf5570d03242f198b1">opposition coalition</a>&nbsp;showing that its candidate,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-edmundo-opposition-presidential-election-reward-arrest-5b6bf23e53642db059304bef14d2f4ff">Edmundo González</a>, won the July 2024 election by a more than a two-to-one margin.The dispute over results prompted immediate protests, and the government responded by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-election-arrests-repression-prison-opposition-c07ddb20770f02139e4f4a05d7bc4f60">detaining more than 2,000 people</a>, mostly poor young men. González fled into exile in Spain to avoid arrest.More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have migrated since 2013, when its oil-dependent economy came undone and Maduro became president. Most settled in Latin America and the Caribbean, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, many saw the U.S. as their best chance to improve their living conditions.<h2>The US and Venezuela have agreed on other releases</h2>Despite the U.S. not recognizing Maduro, the two governments have carried out other recent exchanges.In May,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-national-freed-detention-272f5262f22808ae11ac0e06183a3219">Venezuela freed a U.S. Air Force veteran</a>&nbsp;after about six months in detention. Joseph St. Clair's family has said the language specialist, who served four tours in Afghanistan, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.Three months earlier,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-maduro-envoy-migrants-grenell-edfa58920c0a76f0bbe9de995a07d1a3">six other Americans</a>&nbsp;whom the U.S. government considered wrongfully detained in Venezuela were released after Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions, met with Maduro at the presidential palace.Grenell, during the meeting in Caracas, urged Maduro to take back deported migrants who have committed crimes in the U.S. Hundreds of Venezuelans have since been deported to their home country.Maduro’s government had accused the Trump administration of “kidnapping” the children by placing them in foster care after their parents were deported.___This story has been corrected to reflect that the last name of the brother of the Navy SEAL jailed in Venezuela is Castaneda, not Castenada.___Tucker reported from Washington and Janetsky from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Seung Min Kim in Washington and photographer Salvador Melendez in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.

Venezuela releases jailed Americans in deal that frees migrants deported to El Salvador by US

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A vehicle rammed into a crowd of people waiting to enter a performance venue along a busy boulevard in Los Angeles early Saturday, injuring 30 people and leading bystanders to attack the driver, authorities said.

The driver was later found to have been shot, according to police, who were searching for a suspected gunman who fled the scene along Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood.

It was not immediately clear if the driver was shot before or after the crash or why he drove into the crowd, a police spokesperson said.

Twenty-three victims were taken to hospitals and trauma centers, according to police. Seven were in critical condition, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.

Fire Capt. Adam VanGerpen said a line of people — mostly female — were waiting to enter Vermont Hollywood when they were struck by a Nissan Versa that also hit a food vending cart and valet stand. “This was a very chaotic scene,” said VanGerpen, a public information officer.

People inside came out to help victims in the minutes before emergency crews arrived, he said.

The driver, whose gunshot wound was found by paramedics, was also taken to a hospital. Police did not identify him or disclose his condition.

The person suspected of shooting him was described as a man in a blue jersey with a silver revolver.

“This is under police investigation,” VanGerpen said. “This will be a large investigation with the LAPD.”

Vermont Hollywood was hosting a reggae-hip hop event from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., according to its online calendar. There was no immediate response to a phone message left with the business.

A fight broke out outside the venue beforehand, according to Maria Medrano, who with her husband was there selling hot dogs. Shortly afterward, she said, the car hit the people, and the couple narrowly escaped when it crushed their stand.

“The car stopped once it hit the hot dog stand, it got stuck there,” Medrano told The Associated Press from the hospital. “If not, I wouldn’t be here to tell” the story.

After the crash she heard what sounded like gunshots.

“Everyone started running,” Medrano said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752969831746.jpeg" alt="An area is roped off after a vehicle rammed into a crowd of people waiting to enter a nightclub along a busy boulevard in Los Angeles early Saturday, July 19, 2025, injuring several people. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)" />
 <figcaption>An area is roped off after a vehicle rammed into a crowd of people waiting to enter a nightclub along a busy boulevard in Los Angeles early Saturday, July 19, 2025, injuring several people. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)</figcaption>
 </figure>LOS ANGELES (AP) — A vehicle rammed into a crowd of people waiting to enter a performance venue along a busy boulevard in Los Angeles early Saturday, injuring 30 people and leading bystanders to attack the driver, authorities said.The driver was later found to have been shot, according to police, who were searching for a suspected gunman who fled the scene along Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood.It was not immediately clear if the driver was shot before or after the crash or why he drove into the crowd, a police spokesperson said.Twenty-three victims were taken to hospitals and trauma centers, according to police. Seven were in critical condition, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.Fire Capt. Adam VanGerpen said a line of people — mostly female — were waiting to enter Vermont Hollywood when they were struck by a Nissan Versa that also hit a food vending cart and valet stand. “This was a very chaotic scene,” said VanGerpen, a public information officer.People inside came out to help victims in the minutes before emergency crews arrived, he said.The driver, whose gunshot wound was found by paramedics, was also taken to a hospital. Police did not identify him or disclose his condition.The person suspected of shooting him was described as a man in a blue jersey with a silver revolver.“This is under police investigation,” VanGerpen said. “This will be a large investigation with the LAPD.”Vermont Hollywood was hosting a reggae-hip hop event from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., according to its online calendar. There was no immediate response to a phone message left with the business.A fight broke out outside the venue beforehand, according to Maria Medrano, who with her husband was there selling hot dogs. Shortly afterward, she said, the car hit the people, and the couple narrowly escaped when it crushed their stand.“The car stopped once it hit the hot dog stand, it got stuck there,” Medrano told The Associated Press from the hospital. “If not, I wouldn’t be here to tell” the story.After the crash she heard what sounded like gunshots.“Everyone started running,” Medrano said.

Car strikes crowd outside Los Angeles venue, injuring 30. Bystanders attack driver, who was shot

HUTCHINSON - Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) resident Adan Morales Jr., 54, died Friday, July 18, 2025. Morales was found unresponsive in his cell on July 1, 2025. Staff began life-saving measures immediately and continued after emergency medical services arrived. He was transported to a local hospital, where he later died. The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy.

Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is investigated by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

Morales was serving a 276-month sentence for one conviction of rape of a child under 14 years of age, and one conviction of breach of privacy in Finney County, Kansas.

The Hutchinson Correctional Facility is the state’s third-largest facility. It serves only adult males and has a capacity of 1,788 residents.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1588634023977.png" alt="Hutchinson Correctional Facility" />
 <figcaption>Hutchinson Correctional Facility</figcaption>
 </figure>Kansas Department of CorrectionsHUTCHINSON - Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) resident Adan Morales Jr., 54, died Friday, July 18, 2025. Morales was found unresponsive in his cell on July 1, 2025. Staff began life-saving measures immediately and continued after emergency medical services arrived. He was transported to a local hospital, where he later died. The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy.Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is investigated by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is ongoing.Morales was serving a 276-month sentence for one conviction of rape of a child under 14 years of age, and one conviction of breach of privacy in Finney County, Kansas.The Hutchinson Correctional Facility is the state’s third-largest facility. It serves only adult males and has a capacity of 1,788 residents.

Hutchinson Correctional Facility resident dies in cell after being found unresponsive

In several states, a renter has to make $20 or more an hour to afford apartments being leased at Fair Market Value. Nearly half of Americans don’t make enough money to afford a one-bedroom rental.

By&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcur.org/naomi-delkamiller-1">Jessica Meza</a> <a href="https://www.kcur.org/">KCUR</a>

Personal stories about struggling to make ends meet appear throughout the report, “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing.”

Vee, from Missouri, said her small wage increases don’t make a dent in rising rent costs.

“Everything is going up, but the paycheck,” a woman named Detrese from Maryland told the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which authored the report.

The report focuses on the housing wage, defined as the full-time hourly wage needed for workers to afford “a decent rental home that doesn’t occupy more than 30% of their wage.”

On the national level, the data shows, a renter needs to earn about $28 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental without spending 30% of their income to pay for housing. Half of working Americans earn less than that, according to the report.

Published on Thursday, the report begins with an open letter from Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri that warns about the ongoing affordable housing and homelessness crisis in the U.S.

“I know these challenges firsthand. As a child, my family and I lived in public housing. We relied on it to put a roof over our heads, and to make sure there was enough money to put food on the table,” Cleaver writes.

In at least four Midwestern states, minimum wage is not enough to afford a two-bedroom rental at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hud.loans/hud-loans-blog/what-is-fair-market-rent/" target="_blank">Fair Market Value</a>.

Renters in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri need to make at least $20 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental. Minimum wage earners would need to work several full time jobs to afford it.

Costs are even higher in Illinois, where it takes earnings of almost $30 an hour to afford the same size of dwelling.

“People have lower incomes in those places, so the housing might be more affordable, you know, nominally, but not necessarily, relative to people's incomes,” said Dan Emmanuel, the coalition's director of research.

According to the NILHC report, only one out of four prospective renters eligible for housing assistance are able to receive that aid, and&nbsp;<a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/house-appropriations-committee-releases-draft-fy26-spending-bill-cutting-hud-funding" target="_blank">budget cuts</a>&nbsp;to federal programs proposed by Congress will drastically impact those who need it.

<h2>In several states, a renter has to make $20 or more an hour to afford apartments being leased at Fair Market Value. Nearly half of Americans don’t make enough money to afford a one-bedroom rental.</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752852307231.png" alt="A banner advertising apartments for rent on display in St. Louis. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, more people than ever in the Midwest and nationwide are not earning enough money to afford the rent.&nbsp;Eric Lee/St. Louis Public Radio" />
 <figcaption>A banner advertising apartments for rent on display in St. Louis. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, more people than ever in the Midwest and nationwide are not earning enough money to afford the rent.&nbsp;Eric Lee/St. Louis Public Radio</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcur.org/naomi-delkamiller-1">Jessica Meza</a> <a href="https://www.kcur.org/">KCUR</a>Personal stories about struggling to make ends meet appear throughout the report, “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing.”Vee, from Missouri, said her small wage increases don’t make a dent in rising rent costs.“Everything is going up, but the paycheck,” a woman named Detrese from Maryland told the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which authored the report.The report focuses on the housing wage, defined as the full-time hourly wage needed for workers to afford “a decent rental home that doesn’t occupy more than 30% of their wage.”On the national level, the data shows, a renter needs to earn about $28 an hour to afford a modest one-bedroom rental without spending 30% of their income to pay for housing. Half of working Americans earn less than that, according to the report.Published on Thursday, the report begins with an open letter from Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri that warns about the ongoing affordable housing and homelessness crisis in the U.S.“I know these challenges firsthand. As a child, my family and I lived in public housing. We relied on it to put a roof over our heads, and to make sure there was enough money to put food on the table,” Cleaver writes.In at least four Midwestern states, minimum wage is not enough to afford a two-bedroom rental at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hud.loans/hud-loans-blog/what-is-fair-market-rent/" target="_blank">Fair Market Value</a>.Renters in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri need to make at least $20 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental. Minimum wage earners would need to work several full time jobs to afford it.Costs are even higher in Illinois, where it takes earnings of almost $30 an hour to afford the same size of dwelling.“People have lower incomes in those places, so the housing might be more affordable, you know, nominally, but not necessarily, relative to people's incomes,” said Dan Emmanuel, the coalition's director of research.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752852495720.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Nowhere to go&nbsp;</h2>According to the NILHC report, only one out of four prospective renters eligible for housing assistance are able to receive that aid, and&nbsp;<a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/house-appropriations-committee-releases-draft-fy26-spending-bill-cutting-hud-funding" target="_blank">budget cuts</a>&nbsp;to federal programs proposed by Congress will drastically impact those who need it.Under the 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development measure, almost a billion dollars could be cut from HUD, an amount which the NILHC acknowledges is not as high as&nbsp;<a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/house-appropriations-committee-releases-draft-fy26-spending-bill-cutting-hud-funding" target="_blank">originally proposed</a>.In remarks at a July&nbsp;<a href="https://appropriations.house.gov/news/remarks/cole-remarks-fy26-transportation-housing-and-urban-development-and-related-agencies-0" target="_blank">Appropriations Committee session</a>, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who chairs the committee, said:"The bill empowers local housing and community development decision-making through Community Development Block Grants and NeighborWorks—capacity-building activities that leverage private housing investment dollars.”Emmanuel said many people will lose their housing and could become homeless as a result of proposed cuts.“(HUD) won't be able to serve the same amount of people as in 2025,” Emmanuel said.Tina Murray, vice president of housing at&nbsp;<a href="https://togetheromaha.org/welcome.html" target="_blank">Together Omaha</a>, a food and housing advocacy group, is worried about the ending of housing programs. She said there is already a big shift in housing affordability in Omaha due to the end of pandemic era federal funds and predicts a gradual rise in evictions after the federal funding is no longer available.“What we're seeing now are a lot of individuals that I believe will not be able to afford where they're living, or be able to be re-house,” Murray said.Omaha is one of the most expensive areas for renters in Nebraska. The housing wage in the state’s largest city is about $24, while the state housing wage is $21.57. The average Nebraskan renter earns $17.71 an hour, only about four dollars above the state minimum wage.According to the report, Kendall County, in the Chicago metropolitan region, is one of the most expensive areas for renters in Illinois. The housing wage there is $36.27, higher than the state’s housing wage of $29.81. The average Illinois renter makes $23.01 an hour, about seven dollars above the minimum wage.Vikki from Illinois shares her story in the report, describing feeling trapped, as her only housing options to relocate with her son are in "unacceptable conditions."Emmanual said people of color are disproportionately impacted by the rising cost of rent, lack of affordable housing and low wages.In comparison to white people, people of color face higher rates of housing, employment and income discrimination. Latina women face the biggest&nbsp;<a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1O4WgwKwVJDm0QWRUf2U6r_p7Tm6ibz7D" target="_blank">wage gap</a>, earning nearly 11 dollars per hour&nbsp;less than white men. The unemployment rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives was 6.6%, nearly double the rate for white people.“There is a long, long history of housing discrimination. Either through red line exclusionary zoning or predatory lending. And some of those practices are even persistent in the present," said Emmanuel.<h2>Causes, solutions</h2>In his introductory letter to the report, Cleaver sums up many factors contributing to what the NILHC calls an “affordability crisis” in housing.“While the stories and circumstances are unique, the root causes of housing instability are not: there are not enough decent, affordable, and accessible homes in communities, and wages have not kept pace with the ever-increasing cost of rent,” Cleaver writes.The NILHC says another factor causing lack of affordable housing is the practice of&nbsp;<a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/new-study-examines-filtering-dynamics-us-housing-supply" target="_blank">upward filtering</a>, in which landlords and developers renovate old buildings and rent the units at higher prices.The authors of “Out of Reach” say solutions to the affordability crisis are available.The report urges Congress to protect housing programs and expand the existing assistance. One of its suggestions is continuing the Emergency Housing Voucher program created through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.“Congress must not only protect existing housing programs but significantly strengthen them through sustained investment, expanded rental assistance, and policies that eliminate barriers to housing access,” the report says.The NILHC points to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.opportunityhome.org/take-action/bipartisan-family-stability-and-opportunity-vouchers-act/" target="_blank">Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act</a>&nbsp;as a step in the right direction. The bipartisan measure would provide 250,000 housing vouchers to families with young children to increase housing stability and offer them more choice in where they live.