Residents deal with mile-long walks, corner store diets and poorer health as grocers are forced to close unprofitable locations on both sides of the state line

By:<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/thomaswhite/">Thomas White</a>

Phillip Ramsey is a master gardener who’s planting fall produce in one of the community gardens he manages. It’s just two blocks from the Sun Fresh grocery store that operated at 31st Street and Prospect Avenue until it shut down in August.

The retired Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years. He’s seen the area when it was a&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/09/26/kansas-grocery-stores-closure-rural-healthy-foods-initiative/" target="_blank">food desert</a>&nbsp;before and is troubled by the desert’s return.

Ramsey is trying to do his part by growing and giving away more than 1,000 pounds of produce. But he knows that’s only a bandage for a bigger wound. He is worried for his neighbors — often elderly or low-income — who will now have a harder time finding nutritious food.

“I’ve seen an uptick in neighbors needing the service of the community garden,” Ramsey said. “The impact of the store closing is being felt throughout the neighborhood, and we’ll get by because we always get by. But I’m beginning to see resentment set in, and that scares me.”

The Sun Fresh closure is just part of a growing urban food desert and food insecurity problem in the area. Six miles away in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, the Merc Co+op will close at the end of the year, returning that area to food desert status after just five years of operation.

“I live in a food desert if I am not able to get to a full service grocery store easily,” said&nbsp; Kristina Bridges, a research assistant professor in University of Kansas Medical Center’s department of family medicine and community health. Food insecurity is defined as whether “in the past 12 months, have you run out of food before you could get more? If the answer is yes, you have food insecurity.”

Together, the two grocery store closures will hamper thousands of residents in low-income and low-food-access areas that Dina Newman from the Center for Neighborhoods calls “communities of concern.”

Tight profit margins at grocery stores mean that grocers often avoid the risk of investing in these communities of concern. As a result, food desert maps follow disinvestment patterns that resemble historic redlining.

Those living in a food desert or experiencing food insecurity have measurably worse health outcomes including a life expectancy shortened by 2.29 years, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://pressroom.cancer.org/releases?item=1237" target="_blank">American Cancer Society researchers</a>. While some like Ramsey work to provide short-term community-level solutions, Bridges says broader long-term approaches are also needed.

With the two local grocery stores closing, new food deserts will emerge.

In the late 1980s, Newman was a single mother without a car. She knows the struggle of navigating a food desert firsthand.

“So if I’m working … I have to plan it out to get to the bus to get over to a store. Then l’m waiting at the bus stop, which is sometimes just a patch of dirt,” Newman said. “Then I have to transfer buses with a full load of groceries. What about my child, are they with me? Am I safe alone after dark? You are juggling all this just trying to get to the grocery store, that’s the challenge.”

She recalled one incident during the winter when an ice storm came while she was shopping. Out of necessity, she put her socks over her shoes in an attempt to get some traction and not fall and spill her groceries.

“This is all your hard-earned money in these groceries, you’ve got to get them home,” she said.

Ramsey says that many people in his neighborhood now have to walk up to a mile or take the bus to get fresh food at places like Aldi or Happy Foods. He says the effort required to get nutritious food means that many with limited means will just turn to more convenient options like corner stores and gas stations.

“I can’t throw a rock without hitting a fried chicken spot,” Ramsey said. “So we’re eating processed food, cheap food that we can get our hands on, because access to fresh healthy food is not an option for us.”

Historic patterns with current consequences

While food deserts and food insecurity touch both urban and&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/09/26/kansas-grocery-stores-closure-rural-healthy-foods-initiative/" target="_blank">rural populations</a>, there is a racial disparity. According to a&nbsp;<a href="https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/108905/EIB-269.pdf?v=75617" target="_blank">2024 USDA report,</a>&nbsp;8% of white households face food insecurity while the number is 21% for Black households and 16.9% for Hispanic households nationwide.

Notably, that report is the last USDA survey on food security for the foreseeable future. The Trump administration has labeled the report “<a href="https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/09/20/usda-terminates-redundant-food-insecurity-survey" target="_blank">redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous</a>.”If a census tract was redlined as “declining” or “hazardous” in the 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corp. maps, that translated into a 107% and 149% increase in the likelihood that the same census tract would be a food desert today, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9303837/" target="_blank">2022 study covering 102 U.S. cities</a>.

“It just feels like this is all intentional,” Ramsey said.

Bridges says KU Medical system has been mapping food insecurity among patients since 2017 and sees a strong correlation between rates of Type 2 diabetes, modern food insecurity and historic redlining.

“It’s really no surprise that the bubbles (on the map) overlapped,” said Bridges. “We have big food insecurity bubbles, big Type 2 diabetes bubbles. … They were north, where downtown KCK and the Merc is, and the east side where the Sun Fresh was. …If we pull out our old redlining maps, it’s exactly the same pattern.”

The seemingly structural nature of the problem has led many advocates to use the term “food apartheid” instead of “food desert,” since a desert occurs naturally while food insecurity appears to occur as the result of man-made systems.

“I knew what food apartheid was before food apartheid was a phrase,” Ramsey said. “You go to certain places and the quality of the food is vastly different. … We’re forced to take the scraps and it’s an affront to our personhood.”

The lack of access to nutritious food has hurtful consequences. Chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes become more common, but so do complications from deficiencies in fiber and good gut bacteria that are primarily found in fresh fruits and vegetables.

Bridges says understanding these connections between food deserts, food insecurity and chronic disease is something that even some doctors need education on. She recalls speaking to a practitioner who said they didn’t believe there was a problem with food insecurity because “his patients were all fat.”

“That completely misses the mark,” Bridges said. “Just the long-term chronic stress of being food insecure or living in a food desert releases cortisol in your body that can cause a host of things … including obesity.”

Economic reality of grocery stores closing

Both the Prospect Sun Fresh and the KCK Merc Co+op faced the economic headwinds of operating a grocery store in a historically disinvested neighborhood. While each faced unique issues with their locations, they shared similar challenges.

The Prospect Sun Fresh’s former operator — nonprofit developer Community Builders, which also runs Sun Fresh at 4209 E. 50th Terrace&nbsp; — said they faced a litany of operating challenges at the Prospect location and lost approximately $5 million trying to keep the store open from February 2022 to August 2025.

“We stepped up to fill a void that no one else was going to fill,” said Community Builders CEO Emmet Pearson at an Urban Summit meeting after the Prospect Sun Fresh closed. “The previous operator reached out to us because he tried to get other operators to come forward and no one else would.”

The city had previously invested $17 million to $18 million into shopping center infrastructure at Linwood Boulevard and Prospect Avenue and was the landlord of the Sun Fresh location. Pearson says that meant Community Builders couldn’t fully control the environment around the store due to limitations in their lease. Board of directors member Kiki Curls says that directly hurt business.

“It’s the element that’s outside the store that impacted us doing business,” said Curls at the Urban Summit meeting. “When you have open prostitution, open drug use and drug sales, when you have folks that pull down their pants and defecate in front of the door when people are coming in store, people do not come back.”

Community Builders themselves received $750,000 in direct cash subsidy from the city to help at the Prospect Sun Fresh in May 2025 along with $161,500 in rent relief. Pearson and the board of directors say that was a drop in the bucket compared to their operational challenges.

Security was $5,000 to $6,000 a week with the cost of a single off-duty police officer paid between $60 and $90 an hour. The store had a “persistent sewer smell” for months that they say stemmed from infrastructure issues. Community Builders said these issues combined to drive sales down and customers away, which ultimately led to taking a loss and closing the store.

Across the state line, the Merc Co+op is in its waning days. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, had invested approximately $7 million to bring in the Lawrence-based fresh grocer.

After three years of planning and five years of operation the Merc announced in June that it would close at the end of this year. Merc cited poor financial performance at the downtown KCK location and that operating it further could hurt the long-term viability of the cooperative, which has operated in Lawrence for 50 years.

Contributing to the closure was the failure of promised nearby redevelopment, which was intended to increase population density, median wages and foot traffic in the area, needed to help support the grocer. A $25 million redevelopment of the Reardon Convention Center across the street from the Merc never came to fruition after several extensions. And a nearby $145 million Minnesota Avenue Triangle mixed-use project fell through, with developers citing funding gaps.

Patrick Shabram, a location research consultant with G2G analytics who helps grocers identify viable locations by projecting future sales, says there are many considerations to determining whether a grocery store will succeed. He said the top three indicators that most grocery stores look for are population density per area competitor, income level and the education level of a neighborhood.

As a general rule, Shabram said a grocery store targets $100,000 in sales per square foot in the first year of operation. Notably, the net profit margin for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/food-industry-facts" target="_blank">grocery stores nationwide is just 1.7%</a>&nbsp;according to FMI, a food industry association, which means that even a slight dip in sales could doom a store.

Shabram said the challenge grocers face in opening in an underserved area is balancing the social good of opening a store in an area that needs it while also maintaining profitability.

“I provide the most accurate sales forecast I can so that there can be the proper expectations,” Shabram said. “Then I’m basically saying do what you can to make it work.”

He says that often means looking into grants and incentives to make it through the first couple of lean years while the store establishes itself. He says other ways grocery stores look to improve profitability are pulling in shoppers from neighboring areas or selling higher-margin items like prepared meals or retail. But he says visibility, access, parking lot size, the store’s fit in the neighborhood and size of the store are all major determinants of grocery store success.

“There’s no one answer for every scenario. But a lot of times I’m encouraging people to open smaller stores,” Shabram said. “That might mean it won’t have all the items needed for weekly shopping at the store, but you can provide access to fresh foods that weren’t available at the dollar store.”

Community solutions and addressing root causes

The local governments on both sides of the state line say that they are working to attract grocery stores to replace the recently shuttered locations.

In the meantime, stopgap solutions are being pursued.

Newman — in her capacity as founder of the Kansas City Black Urban Growers — partnered with area urban farmers and the&nbsp;<a href="https://kansascitydefender.com/mutual-aid-community-programs/kcs-black-farms-unite-hamer-free-food-program/" target="_blank">Kansas City Defender</a>&nbsp;to create the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article311797218.html" target="_blank">Hamer Free Food Program</a>. They will give out monthly food boxes to residents within one mile of the closed Sun Fresh. The program is in the pilot phase, and 50 household slots were filled in a matter of hours.

Ramsey works with the nonprofit Urban Green Dreams and will continue to manage community gardens as he hopes to give away 2,000 pounds of food this year. He also works to help educate students in nearby classrooms about growing food.

“I’m running into kids who don’t know that potatoes come from the ground or that peaches come from trees,” he said. “They know every flavor of Takis, though.”

Throughout the metro area, nonprofit Kanbe’s Markets place coolers and tiered baskets of fresh produce in independent corner stores on a consignment basis. The idea is to bring fresh produce to where people shop in low-food-access census tracts. Kanbe’s has joined with 50 community partners to place fresh fruits and vegetables in 100 corner stores, including one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kanbesmarkets.org/healthy-corner-stores" target="_blank">five blocks from</a>&nbsp;the soon to close Merc Co+op.

“All these downstream things, just to feed people today, are essential,” Bridges said. “But we also need to be thinking of upstream and long-term solutions.”

Bridges said that the root causes of food deserts and food insecurity are a tangled web of health care, agriculture, education and economic factors. She believes a shift to viewing nutritious food as medicine could bring about a drop in chronic disease. That drop in preventable disease could also save the public and insurers money in the form of reduced insurance premiums, fewer claims and fewer overwhelmed emergency rooms.

“It wouldn’t obviously be a quick fix,” Bridges said. “But if you are going to do things like subsidize a building, but then not also address all the other things creating this poor economic situation like jobs, mental health, transportation access and quality of schools, then of course we’re not going to have an environment where a grocery store would survive.”

She points to some smaller programs that offer medically tailored groceries, ready-to-eat meals or fruit and vegetable vouchers. Bridges does say that getting multiple sectors to cooperate presents a sizable challenge in upscaling programs like those. But it’s a challenge that she says must be taken on to truly address the issue.

“Even though they (local governments) tried to be intentional in supporting the two grocery stores in these areas,” said Bridges, “it takes a bigger commitment from multiple sectors to really reinvest in the neighborhoods that have been divested from to address the root cause.”

This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/10/03/grocery-stores-near-me-food-deserts-redlining-kansas-city/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Kansas City</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1759841813161.png" alt=" Phillip Ramsey, a master gardener, stands in the Ruby Jeans Community Garden at 29th Street and Wabash Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, where he grows and distributes fresh produce to neighbors (Thomas White/The Beacon)." />
 <figcaption> Phillip Ramsey, a master gardener, stands in the Ruby Jeans Community Garden at 29th Street and Wabash Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, where he grows and distributes fresh produce to neighbors (Thomas White/The Beacon).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Residents deal with mile-long walks, corner store diets and poorer health as grocers are forced to close unprofitable locations on both sides of the state line</h2>By:<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/thomaswhite/">Thomas White</a>Phillip Ramsey is a master gardener who’s planting fall produce in one of the community gardens he manages. It’s just two blocks from the Sun Fresh grocery store that operated at 31st Street and Prospect Avenue until it shut down in August.The retired Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years. He’s seen the area when it was a&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/09/26/kansas-grocery-stores-closure-rural-healthy-foods-initiative/" target="_blank">food desert</a>&nbsp;before and is troubled by the desert’s return.Ramsey is trying to do his part by growing and giving away more than 1,000 pounds of produce. But he knows that’s only a bandage for a bigger wound. He is worried for his neighbors — often elderly or low-income — who will now have a harder time finding nutritious food.“I’ve seen an uptick in neighbors needing the service of the community garden,” Ramsey said. “The impact of the store closing is being felt throughout the neighborhood, and we’ll get by because we always get by. But I’m beginning to see resentment set in, and that scares me.”The Sun Fresh closure is just part of a growing urban food desert and food insecurity problem in the area. Six miles away in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, the Merc Co+op will close at the end of the year, returning that area to food desert status after just five years of operation.“I live in a food desert if I am not able to get to a full service grocery store easily,” said&nbsp; Kristina Bridges, a research assistant professor in University of Kansas Medical Center’s department of family medicine and community health. Food insecurity is defined as whether “in the past 12 months, have you run out of food before you could get more? If the answer is yes, you have food insecurity.”Together, the two grocery store closures will hamper thousands of residents in low-income and low-food-access areas that Dina Newman from the Center for Neighborhoods calls “communities of concern.”Tight profit margins at grocery stores mean that grocers often avoid the risk of investing in these communities of concern. As a result, food desert maps follow disinvestment patterns that resemble historic redlining.Those living in a food desert or experiencing food insecurity have measurably worse health outcomes including a life expectancy shortened by 2.29 years, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://pressroom.cancer.org/releases?item=1237" target="_blank">American Cancer Society researchers</a>. While some like Ramsey work to provide short-term community-level solutions, Bridges says broader long-term approaches are also needed.<h2>Logistics of a food desert</h2>With the two local grocery stores closing, new food deserts will emerge.In the late 1980s, Newman was a single mother without a car. She knows the struggle of navigating a food desert firsthand.“So if I’m working … I have to plan it out to get to the bus to get over to a store. Then l’m waiting at the bus stop, which is sometimes just a patch of dirt,” Newman said. “Then I have to transfer buses with a full load of groceries. What about my child, are they with me? Am I safe alone after dark? You are juggling all this just trying to get to the grocery store, that’s the challenge.”She recalled one incident during the winter when an ice storm came while she was shopping. Out of necessity, she put her socks over her shoes in an attempt to get some traction and not fall and spill her groceries.“This is all your hard-earned money in these groceries, you’ve got to get them home,” she said.Ramsey says that many people in his neighborhood now have to walk up to a mile or take the bus to get fresh food at places like Aldi or Happy Foods. He says the effort required to get nutritious food means that many with limited means will just turn to more convenient options like corner stores and gas stations.“I can’t throw a rock without hitting a fried chicken spot,” Ramsey said. “So we’re eating processed food, cheap food that we can get our hands on, because access to fresh healthy food is not an option for us.”<h2>Historic patterns with current consequences</h2>While food deserts and food insecurity touch both urban and&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/09/26/kansas-grocery-stores-closure-rural-healthy-foods-initiative/" target="_blank">rural populations</a>, there is a racial disparity. According to a&nbsp;<a href="https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/108905/EIB-269.pdf?v=75617" target="_blank">2024 USDA report,</a>&nbsp;8% of white households face food insecurity while the number is 21% for Black households and 16.9% for Hispanic households nationwide.Notably, that report is the last USDA survey on food security for the foreseeable future. The Trump administration has labeled the report “<a href="https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/09/20/usda-terminates-redundant-food-insecurity-survey" target="_blank">redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous</a>.”If a census tract was redlined as “declining” or “hazardous” in the 1930s Home Owners’ Loan Corp. maps, that translated into a 107% and 149% increase in the likelihood that the same census tract would be a food desert today, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9303837/" target="_blank">2022 study covering 102 U.S. cities</a>.“It just feels like this is all intentional,” Ramsey said.Bridges says KU Medical system has been mapping food insecurity among patients since 2017 and sees a strong correlation between rates of Type 2 diabetes, modern food insecurity and historic redlining.“It’s really no surprise that the bubbles (on the map) overlapped,” said Bridges. “We have big food insecurity bubbles, big Type 2 diabetes bubbles. … They were north, where downtown KCK and the Merc is, and the east side where the Sun Fresh was. …If we pull out our old redlining maps, it’s exactly the same pattern.”The seemingly structural nature of the problem has led many advocates to use the term “food apartheid” instead of “food desert,” since a desert occurs naturally while food insecurity appears to occur as the result of man-made systems.“I knew what food apartheid was before food apartheid was a phrase,” Ramsey said. “You go to certain places and the quality of the food is vastly different. … We’re forced to take the scraps and it’s an affront to our personhood.”The lack of access to nutritious food has hurtful consequences. Chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes become more common, but so do complications from deficiencies in fiber and good gut bacteria that are primarily found in fresh fruits and vegetables.Bridges says understanding these connections between food deserts, food insecurity and chronic disease is something that even some doctors need education on. She recalls speaking to a practitioner who said they didn’t believe there was a problem with food insecurity because “his patients were all fat.”“That completely misses the mark,” Bridges said. “Just the long-term chronic stress of being food insecure or living in a food desert releases cortisol in your body that can cause a host of things … including obesity.”<h2>Economic reality of grocery stores closing</h2>Both the Prospect Sun Fresh and the KCK Merc Co+op faced the economic headwinds of operating a grocery store in a historically disinvested neighborhood. While each faced unique issues with their locations, they shared similar challenges.The Prospect Sun Fresh’s former operator — nonprofit developer Community Builders, which also runs Sun Fresh at 4209 E. 50th Terrace&nbsp; — said they faced a litany of operating challenges at the Prospect location and lost approximately $5 million trying to keep the store open from February 2022 to August 2025.“We stepped up to fill a void that no one else was going to fill,” said Community Builders CEO Emmet Pearson at an Urban Summit meeting after the Prospect Sun Fresh closed. “The previous operator reached out to us because he tried to get other operators to come forward and no one else would.”The city had previously invested $17 million to $18 million into shopping center infrastructure at Linwood Boulevard and Prospect Avenue and was the landlord of the Sun Fresh location. Pearson says that meant Community Builders couldn’t fully control the environment around the store due to limitations in their lease. Board of directors member Kiki Curls says that directly hurt business.“It’s the element that’s outside the store that impacted us doing business,” said Curls at the Urban Summit meeting. “When you have open prostitution, open drug use and drug sales, when you have folks that pull down their pants and defecate in front of the door when people are coming in store, people do not come back.”Community Builders themselves received $750,000 in direct cash subsidy from the city to help at the Prospect Sun Fresh in May 2025 along with $161,500 in rent relief. Pearson and the board of directors say that was a drop in the bucket compared to their operational challenges.Security was $5,000 to $6,000 a week with the cost of a single off-duty police officer paid between $60 and $90 an hour. The store had a “persistent sewer smell” for months that they say stemmed from infrastructure issues. Community Builders said these issues combined to drive sales down and customers away, which ultimately led to taking a loss and closing the store.Across the state line, the Merc Co+op is in its waning days. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, had invested approximately $7 million to bring in the Lawrence-based fresh grocer.After three years of planning and five years of operation the Merc announced in June that it would close at the end of this year. Merc cited poor financial performance at the downtown KCK location and that operating it further could hurt the long-term viability of the cooperative, which has operated in Lawrence for 50 years.Contributing to the closure was the failure of promised nearby redevelopment, which was intended to increase population density, median wages and foot traffic in the area, needed to help support the grocer. A $25 million redevelopment of the Reardon Convention Center across the street from the Merc never came to fruition after several extensions. And a nearby $145 million Minnesota Avenue Triangle mixed-use project fell through, with developers citing funding gaps.Patrick Shabram, a location research consultant with G2G analytics who helps grocers identify viable locations by projecting future sales, says there are many considerations to determining whether a grocery store will succeed. He said the top three indicators that most grocery stores look for are population density per area competitor, income level and the education level of a neighborhood.As a general rule, Shabram said a grocery store targets $100,000 in sales per square foot in the first year of operation. Notably, the net profit margin for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/food-industry-facts" target="_blank">grocery stores nationwide is just 1.7%</a>&nbsp;according to FMI, a food industry association, which means that even a slight dip in sales could doom a store.Shabram said the challenge grocers face in opening in an underserved area is balancing the social good of opening a store in an area that needs it while also maintaining profitability.“I provide the most accurate sales forecast I can so that there can be the proper expectations,” Shabram said. “Then I’m basically saying do what you can to make it work.”He says that often means looking into grants and incentives to make it through the first couple of lean years while the store establishes itself. He says other ways grocery stores look to improve profitability are pulling in shoppers from neighboring areas or selling higher-margin items like prepared meals or retail. But he says visibility, access, parking lot size, the store’s fit in the neighborhood and size of the store are all major determinants of grocery store success.“There’s no one answer for every scenario. But a lot of times I’m encouraging people to open smaller stores,” Shabram said. “That might mean it won’t have all the items needed for weekly shopping at the store, but you can provide access to fresh foods that weren’t available at the dollar store.”<h2>Community solutions and addressing root causes</h2>The local governments on both sides of the state line say that they are working to attract grocery stores to replace the recently shuttered locations.In the meantime, stopgap solutions are being pursued.Newman — in her capacity as founder of the Kansas City Black Urban Growers — partnered with area urban farmers and the&nbsp;<a href="https://kansascitydefender.com/mutual-aid-community-programs/kcs-black-farms-unite-hamer-free-food-program/" target="_blank">Kansas City Defender</a>&nbsp;to create the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article311797218.html" target="_blank">Hamer Free Food Program</a>. They will give out monthly food boxes to residents within one mile of the closed Sun Fresh. The program is in the pilot phase, and 50 household slots were filled in a matter of hours.Ramsey works with the nonprofit Urban Green Dreams and will continue to manage community gardens as he hopes to give away 2,000 pounds of food this year. He also works to help educate students in nearby classrooms about growing food.“I’m running into kids who don’t know that potatoes come from the ground or that peaches come from trees,” he said. “They know every flavor of Takis, though.”Throughout the metro area, nonprofit Kanbe’s Markets place coolers and tiered baskets of fresh produce in independent corner stores on a consignment basis. The idea is to bring fresh produce to where people shop in low-food-access census tracts. Kanbe’s has joined with 50 community partners to place fresh fruits and vegetables in 100 corner stores, including one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kanbesmarkets.org/healthy-corner-stores" target="_blank">five blocks from</a>&nbsp;the soon to close Merc Co+op.“All these downstream things, just to feed people today, are essential,” Bridges said. “But we also need to be thinking of upstream and long-term solutions.”Bridges said that the root causes of food deserts and food insecurity are a tangled web of health care, agriculture, education and economic factors. She believes a shift to viewing nutritious food as medicine could bring about a drop in chronic disease. That drop in preventable disease could also save the public and insurers money in the form of reduced insurance premiums, fewer claims and fewer overwhelmed emergency rooms.“It wouldn’t obviously be a quick fix,” Bridges said. “But if you are going to do things like subsidize a building, but then not also address all the other things creating this poor economic situation like jobs, mental health, transportation access and quality of schools, then of course we’re not going to have an environment where a grocery store would survive.”She points to some smaller programs that offer medically tailored groceries, ready-to-eat meals or fruit and vegetable vouchers. Bridges does say that getting multiple sectors to cooperate presents a sizable challenge in upscaling programs like those. But it’s a challenge that she says must be taken on to truly address the issue.“Even though they (local governments) tried to be intentional in supporting the two grocery stores in these areas,” said Bridges, “it takes a bigger commitment from multiple sectors to really reinvest in the neighborhoods that have been divested from to address the root cause.”This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/10/03/grocery-stores-near-me-food-deserts-redlining-kansas-city/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Kansas City</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://thebeaconnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/iconbeacon-150x150.png?crop=1" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Kansas City food deserts expand across state line as grocery stores close

By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran sounded an alarm that the ongoing federal government shutdown threatened to break the nation’s “fragile” aviation system.

Moran, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate’s subcommittee on aviation, space and innovation, made reference to the Jan. 29 crash of a commercial jet from Wichita that collided with a military helicopter in crowded airspace above Washington, D.C.

“Our system is too fragile, and the stakes are too high, for us to continue operating the national aviation system in the manner we are doing so,” Moran said. “We will reach a breaking point, and this could result in the closing of our airspace or portions of it.”

He said he never found value in government shutdowns and urged Senate Democrats to collaborate with Republicans to pass a short-term budget resolution so people could return to their jobs and government work could resume.

The budget impasse prompting closure of nonessential elements of the government reached its 10th day on Friday.

There has been concern that continuation of the political dispute could undermine operation of U.S. airports. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers are considered essential employees and required to work during this period without timely paychecks. The existing national shortage of air traffic controllers, exacerbated by illness of personnel during the shutdown, has been responsible for an increase in flight delays.

“Every day we remain in a shutdown, the air traffic controller shortage gets worse and the strain on the aviation system intensifies,” the senator said in a Senate floor speech. “I hope that this dysfunction we are undergoing … stops before we see dramatic and damaging consequences.”

The U.S. House passed a resolution to keep the government open, but the U.S. Senate hasn’t found the votes to mirror that step.

Moran said failure to “pass a continuing resolution is slowly crushing our aviation system.”

In January, American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided mid-air over the Potomac River. The incident near the Reagan National Airport killed 67 people aboard both aircraft, including 64 passengers and crew on the airliner. The jet had departed from Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita.

“We should be doing everything we can to make certain that our air traffic system and the necessary components are in place to make sure that the traveling public has a safe and secure flight when they board a plane in the United States,” he said. “That work is significantly hindered without an open and functioning government.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760271671002.png" alt=" U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Moran, urged Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown that exacerbates the shortage of air traffic controllers. He argued reopening government would reduce the risk that personnel or equipment failures could lead to an aviation disaster. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of U.S. Senate’s YouTube channel)" />
 <figcaption> U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Moran, urged Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown that exacerbates the shortage of air traffic controllers. He argued reopening government would reduce the risk that personnel or equipment failures could lead to an aviation disaster. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of U.S. Senate’s YouTube channel)</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran sounded an alarm that the ongoing federal government shutdown threatened to break the nation’s “fragile” aviation system.Moran, a Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate’s subcommittee on aviation, space and innovation, made reference to the Jan. 29 crash of a commercial jet from Wichita that collided with a military helicopter in crowded airspace above Washington, D.C.“Our system is too fragile, and the stakes are too high, for us to continue operating the national aviation system in the manner we are doing so,” Moran said. “We will reach a breaking point, and this could result in the closing of our airspace or portions of it.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1759315687610.png" alt="Image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>He said he never found value in government shutdowns and urged Senate Democrats to collaborate with Republicans to pass a short-term budget resolution so people could return to their jobs and government work could resume.The budget impasse prompting closure of nonessential elements of the government reached its 10th day on Friday.There has been concern that continuation of the political dispute could undermine operation of U.S. airports. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers are considered essential employees and required to work during this period without timely paychecks. The existing national shortage of air traffic controllers, exacerbated by illness of personnel during the shutdown, has been responsible for an increase in flight delays.“Every day we remain in a shutdown, the air traffic controller shortage gets worse and the strain on the aviation system intensifies,” the senator said in a Senate floor speech. “I hope that this dysfunction we are undergoing … stops before we see dramatic and damaging consequences.”The U.S. House passed a resolution to keep the government open, but the U.S. Senate hasn’t found the votes to mirror that step.Moran said failure to “pass a continuing resolution is slowly crushing our aviation system.”In January, American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided mid-air over the Potomac River. The incident near the Reagan National Airport killed 67 people aboard both aircraft, including 64 passengers and crew on the airliner. The jet had departed from Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita.“We should be doing everything we can to make certain that our air traffic system and the necessary components are in place to make sure that the traveling public has a safe and secure flight when they board a plane in the United States,” he said. “That work is significantly hindered without an open and functioning government.”

Senator Moran contends government closure ‘slowly crushing our aviation system’

TOPEKA —Law enforcement across the state continue to find drivers traveling far above the posted speed limit.&nbsp;

On Saturday, KHP Trooper Tod shared a photo of a traffic stop with a reminder from a fellow State Trooper, " Trooper Presley would like to remind everybody that for every 10 mph a vehicle travels over 50 mph, the risk of death in a crash doubles."

Speeding is reckless and it puts lives at risk.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760272203671.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA —Law enforcement across the state continue to find drivers traveling far above the posted speed limit.&nbsp;On Saturday, KHP Trooper Tod shared a photo of a traffic stop with a reminder from a fellow State Trooper, " Trooper Presley would like to remind everybody that for every 10 mph a vehicle travels over 50 mph, the risk of death in a crash doubles."Speeding is reckless and it puts lives at risk.&nbsp;

KHP Trooper with an important reminder about driving too fast

The decision has far-reaching implications affecting the treatment of immigrants suspected of civil immigration violations in six midwestern states, including Missouri

By:<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/marysanchez/">Mary Sanchez</a>

The warrantless arrests of 11 immigrant restaurant workers in Liberty earlier this year violated a 2022 consent decree, a federal judge ruled.

The arrests of the workers at El Potro Mexican Café in February were among the first in the Kansas City area to draw widespread media attention.

The Liberty cases became part of a broader filing, challenging government tactics under the second Trump administration on behalf of 26 immigrant plaintiffs.

The case did not question the government’s right to make arrests on immigration violations. But it questioned whether it had violated the prior consent agreement by making warrantless arrests.

On Oct. 7, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division,&nbsp;<a href="https://immigrantjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/214-Nava-v-DHS-Mem-Opinion_10-07-25.pdf" target="_blank">ruled in favor of the immigrant workers</a>.

Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to lift any conditions on the release of 22 immigrants, including 11 people who had been detained after the Liberty raid.

The other 11 people were detained in Chicago through warrantless arrests in their neighborhood or vehicles, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/federal-judge-extends-consent-decree-prohibiting-ice-from-arresting-people-without-warrants-or-probable-cause/" target="_blank">National Immigrant Justice Center</a>, which helped bring the case.

The decision has far-reaching implications and is a huge win for due process, said&nbsp;<a href="https://sharma-crawford.com/" target="_blank">Rekha</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://sharma-crawford.com/" target="_blank">Sharma-Crawford</a>, a Kansas City-based immigration attorney representing the Liberty workers.

The Liberty restaurant workers now are out on bond, an option that has become nearly impossible in recent months for detainees taken into ICE custody.

“Their deportation cases, at least for the time being, would have to be dismissed because they were all arrested unlawfully,” Sharma-Crawford said.

In addition to Missouri and Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Kentucky are also under the consent decree, known for the name of one of the original plaintiffs, Margarito Castañon Nava.

<a href="https://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/judge_display.php?LastName=Cummings" target="_blank">Cummings</a>&nbsp;also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to reissue its warrantless arrest policy nationwide and certify that any officers who violated the consent decree were retrained.

Also, ICE will need to report to the court the names and arrest documents for anyone else who had been arrested without a warrant on immigration violations since June in the Northern District of Illinois, and to continue making similar reports monthly.

In some of the cases, federal officials were accused of creating warrants after they had already arrested the individuals on the civil violations of being without lawful immigration or citizenship status.

Cummings also extended the consent decree to Feb. 2, 2026.

It had been set to expire May 12, 2025, had further violations not been found.

The date change “corresponds to the number of days between the date that ICE unequivocally ceased its compliance with the Agreement (June 11, 2025) and the date of this Memorandum Opinion and Order to provide plaintiffs with the full three-year term of the Agreement for which they bargained,” according to the judge’s ruling.

The Department of Homeland Security also was ordered to pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees.

The case was brought by the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU of Illinois.

“Today’s decision makes clear that DHS and ICE — like everyone else — must follow the Constitution and the law,” said ACLU of Illinois Deputy Legal Director Michelle Garcia, co-counsel, in a statement.

“The federal government’s reckless practice of stopping, harassing and detaining people — and then finding a justification for the action must end,” Garcia said. “The Trump administration’s destructive mass deportation scheme is not a reason to toss aside bedrock constitutional principles, disregard federal law or court orders.”

The ruling comes as the federal government ramps up the presence of immigration agents in Chicago, and President Donald Trump is threatening to send in the National Guard to maintain order in the face of protests in Portland.

The Department of Homeland Security has not issued a statement yet on the court’s decision.

The Liberty workers were detained after more than a dozen agents with Homeland Security Investigations entered the restaurant looking for a worker suspected of a child sex crime.

But communication problems, possibly exacerbated by language barriers, led to the federal agents entering a private office space, despite the lack of a warrant, and collecting employment documents.

Twelve workers were handcuffed and detained. One of the immigrants was later removed from the U.S.

The judgment is being noted by local immigrant rights advocates as an example of&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/07/03/immigration-court-kansas-city-deportation-legal-counsel/" target="_blank">strategic legal filings</a>&nbsp;designed to force the government to stay within the law.

More than 3,000 people in the Kansas City area have been trained in know-your-rights sessions by&nbsp;<a href="https://airrkc.org/" target="_blank">Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation</a>, or AIRR.

During the training, an emphasis is placed on witnesses filming federal agents during a raid to document that policies and the law are being followed, rather than focusing on the immigrants.

AIRR also stresses that witnesses refrain from name-calling of federal agents, as such video might be necessary to submit in cases like the one just decided in the Illinois court.

This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/10/09/ice-arrests-immigrant-workers-liberty/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Kansas City</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760192968407.png" alt="Protesters outside of Kansas City’s immigration court (Mary Sanchez/The Beacon)." />
 <figcaption>Protesters outside of Kansas City’s immigration court (Mary Sanchez/The Beacon).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The decision has far-reaching implications affecting the treatment of immigrants suspected of civil immigration violations in six midwestern states, including Missouri</h2>By:<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/marysanchez/">Mary Sanchez</a>The warrantless arrests of 11 immigrant restaurant workers in Liberty earlier this year violated a 2022 consent decree, a federal judge ruled.The arrests of the workers at El Potro Mexican Café in February were among the first in the Kansas City area to draw widespread media attention.The Liberty cases became part of a broader filing, challenging government tactics under the second Trump administration on behalf of 26 immigrant plaintiffs.The case did not question the government’s right to make arrests on immigration violations. But it questioned whether it had violated the prior consent agreement by making warrantless arrests.On Oct. 7, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division,&nbsp;<a href="https://immigrantjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/214-Nava-v-DHS-Mem-Opinion_10-07-25.pdf" target="_blank">ruled in favor of the immigrant workers</a>.Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to lift any conditions on the release of 22 immigrants, including 11 people who had been detained after the Liberty raid.The other 11 people were detained in Chicago through warrantless arrests in their neighborhood or vehicles, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/federal-judge-extends-consent-decree-prohibiting-ice-from-arresting-people-without-warrants-or-probable-cause/" target="_blank">National Immigrant Justice Center</a>, which helped bring the case.The decision has far-reaching implications and is a huge win for due process, said&nbsp;<a href="https://sharma-crawford.com/" target="_blank">Rekha</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://sharma-crawford.com/" target="_blank">Sharma-Crawford</a>, a Kansas City-based immigration attorney representing the Liberty workers.The Liberty restaurant workers now are out on bond, an option that has become nearly impossible in recent months for detainees taken into ICE custody.“Their deportation cases, at least for the time being, would have to be dismissed because they were all arrested unlawfully,” Sharma-Crawford said.In addition to Missouri and Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Kentucky are also under the consent decree, known for the name of one of the original plaintiffs, Margarito Castañon Nava.<a href="https://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/judge_display.php?LastName=Cummings" target="_blank">Cummings</a>&nbsp;also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to reissue its warrantless arrest policy nationwide and certify that any officers who violated the consent decree were retrained.Also, ICE will need to report to the court the names and arrest documents for anyone else who had been arrested without a warrant on immigration violations since June in the Northern District of Illinois, and to continue making similar reports monthly.In some of the cases, federal officials were accused of creating warrants after they had already arrested the individuals on the civil violations of being without lawful immigration or citizenship status.Cummings also extended the consent decree to Feb. 2, 2026.It had been set to expire May 12, 2025, had further violations not been found.The date change “corresponds to the number of days between the date that ICE unequivocally ceased its compliance with the Agreement (June 11, 2025) and the date of this Memorandum Opinion and Order to provide plaintiffs with the full three-year term of the Agreement for which they bargained,” according to the judge’s ruling.The Department of Homeland Security also was ordered to pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees.The case was brought by the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU of Illinois.“Today’s decision makes clear that DHS and ICE — like everyone else — must follow the Constitution and the law,” said ACLU of Illinois Deputy Legal Director Michelle Garcia, co-counsel, in a statement.“The federal government’s reckless practice of stopping, harassing and detaining people — and then finding a justification for the action must end,” Garcia said. “The Trump administration’s destructive mass deportation scheme is not a reason to toss aside bedrock constitutional principles, disregard federal law or court orders.”The ruling comes as the federal government ramps up the presence of immigration agents in Chicago, and President Donald Trump is threatening to send in the National Guard to maintain order in the face of protests in Portland.The Department of Homeland Security has not issued a statement yet on the court’s decision.The Liberty workers were detained after more than a dozen agents with Homeland Security Investigations entered the restaurant looking for a worker suspected of a child sex crime.But communication problems, possibly exacerbated by language barriers, led to the federal agents entering a private office space, despite the lack of a warrant, and collecting employment documents.Twelve workers were handcuffed and detained. One of the immigrants was later removed from the U.S.The judgment is being noted by local immigrant rights advocates as an example of&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/07/03/immigration-court-kansas-city-deportation-legal-counsel/" target="_blank">strategic legal filings</a>&nbsp;designed to force the government to stay within the law.More than 3,000 people in the Kansas City area have been trained in know-your-rights sessions by&nbsp;<a href="https://airrkc.org/" target="_blank">Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation</a>, or AIRR.During the training, an emphasis is placed on witnesses filming federal agents during a raid to document that policies and the law are being followed, rather than focusing on the immigrants.AIRR also stresses that witnesses refrain from name-calling of federal agents, as such video might be necessary to submit in cases like the one just decided in the Illinois court.This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2025/10/09/ice-arrests-immigrant-workers-liberty/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Kansas City</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.

Federal judge rules against ICE in the warrantless arrests of 11 KC-area workers

SEDGWICK COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Saturday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Ford Expedition driven by&nbsp; Lois&nbsp;Amos, 78, Wichita, was northbound on Greenwich Road at Kansas 254. The driver failed to yield the right of way. An eastbound 2023 Harley Davidson Tri Glide driven by Timothy&nbsp;Verbeck, 64, El Dorado, struck the SUV.

Verbeck was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the&nbsp;Sedgwick County Forensic Center. EMS transported Amos to Wesley Medical Center. Amos was properly restrained and Verbeck was wearing a helmet at the the time of the crash, according to the KHP.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash that occurred&nbsp;just before 3:30p.m. Saturday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a&nbsp; vehicle was northbound on Greenwich Road at Kansas 254. The driver failed to yield the right of way.

An eastbound vehicle struck struck the northbound vehicle. Investigators did not release names of those involved or additional information early Sunday.&nbsp; Check the Post for more information as it becomes available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760234321870.png" alt="First responders near the scene of the fatal crash-photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>First responders near the scene of the fatal crash-photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Saturday in Sedgwick County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1997 Ford Expedition driven by&nbsp; Lois&nbsp;Amos, 78, Wichita, was northbound on Greenwich Road at Kansas 254. The driver failed to yield the right of way. An eastbound 2023 Harley Davidson Tri Glide driven by Timothy&nbsp;Verbeck, 64, El Dorado, struck the SUV.Verbeck was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the&nbsp;Sedgwick County Forensic Center. EMS transported Amos to Wesley Medical Center. Amos was properly restrained and Verbeck was wearing a helmet at the the time of the crash, according to the KHP.--------------SEDGWICK COUNTY—The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash that occurred&nbsp;just before 3:30p.m. Saturday in Sedgwick County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a&nbsp; vehicle was northbound on Greenwich Road at Kansas 254. The driver failed to yield the right of way.An eastbound vehicle struck struck the northbound vehicle. Investigators did not release names of those involved or additional information early Sunday.&nbsp; Check the Post for more information as it becomes available.

Kansas man dies in motorcycle, SUV crash

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Their faces stare down from every street corner in Israel on posters now sun-faded and ripped. Their stories, told by anguished family members, are almost as well-known as celebrities. They are civilians and soldiers, fathers and sons. Some were at the Nova music festival, where almost 400 people were killed and dozens kidnapped.

The latest ceasefire, which began Friday, marks a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when some 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped.

The fighting has killed 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children, and displaced around 90% of the Gaza population of some 2 million. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties in Gaza.

There are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mideast-wars-hostages-d37b0d5bb5ce4340f3a8a48533948da0">currently 48 hostages being held in Gaza</a>, including the body of one soldier from a previous war. Israel has determined that at least 25 of the hostages were killed on Oct. 7, 2023, or died while in captivity. It is unclear how many of the remaining around 20 hostages are still alive and will return to Israel. There is only one remaining female hostage, who Israel believes was killed in captivity.

With the start of the ceasefire on Friday, the remaining hostages are expected to be released within 72 hours. Israel is set to release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

Here is a look at 22 hostages Israel believes are still alive.

Matan Angrest, an Israeli soldier, was kidnapped from his military tank in southern Israel. He is the oldest of four children from Kiryat Bialik, outside of Haifa. His family has been among the most vocal protesters and very critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday's two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, his mother, Anat Angrest, addressed her son at a rally. “I know you’re in pain, and I can’t hug you. I hear you whisper, ‘Come for me, Mom,’ and I can’t protect you," she said.

The fraternal twins were taken from their homes in kibbutz Kfar Aza, on the border with Gaza, during the Oct. 7 attack. Seventeen others were also abducted from Kfar Aza, but the Berman twins are the only hostages from the kibbutz who remain in captivity. The family has heard from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-02-01-2025-bb560151db1437d0b35ac1d568457a46">hostages who returned in a previous deal</a>&nbsp;that, as of February, the brothers were alive but being held separately.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-iran-ceasefire-hostages-a54bb1fa663c33f4153a727ec1e396ee">Liran Berman, their older brother</a>, said it’s the longest the two have ever spent apart. In Kfar Aza, the twins lived in apartments across from each other. Gali is more outgoing, while Ziv is more reserved and shy with a sharp sense of humor, their brother said.

Elkana Bohbot was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. In the past year, Hamas has published multiple videos of Bohbot, filmed under duress, including one where he has a fake telephone conversation with his wife, Rivka; their son, Reem; his mother and his brother — pleading with them to help him get out of Gaza. His son made binoculars in kindergarten which he often uses to go out and “look for his father,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-hostages-trump-99529bfc998abe2c1851fbfbf2f728ab">according to Bohbot’s mother, Ruhama</a>.

Braslavski was working as a security guard at the Nova festival. He attempted to help festival goers evacuate and was wounded in both hands before being kidnapped, witnesses said. In August, the Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of a skeletal Braslavski sobbing and pleading for his life, adding that injuries to his foot prevent him from standing. The videos of Braslavski and Evyatar David digging his own grave horrified Israelis, sparking some of the largest attendance in months at weekly protests.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-hostages-hunger-videos-c9951a33a7f8d47d4ad77705d1267fbd">His father, Ofir, said</a>&nbsp;Rom is usually a strong, happy-go-lucky kid, and that video is the first time he’s seen his son cry.

Nimrod Cohen was kidnapped from a tank where he was stationed as a soldier in southern Israel. Cohen is obsessed with Rubik's cubes, his family said, and a burned Rubik's cube was found in the tank he was abducted from. This year, his mother, Viki Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-passover-hostages-gaza-afc2e5c267a64cbd7bd8a0cd505534b8">illustrated a Passover haggadah</a>, the text laying out the rituals and story recited during the Passover holiday, in honor of hostages, partly because her family has stopped celebrating holidays since the attack. “We don’t gather as a family, because it reminds us how much he is missing,” Cohen said. The only time the extended family gathers is at protests, she said.

The youngest of four Cunio brothers, Ariel was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud, and her brother, Dolev, a married father of four who was later killed in captivity. According to news reports, Cunio and Yehoud had returned from an extended trip to South America weeks before the attack and had just adopted a puppy. Yehoud was released&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-01-30-2025-3cc7131495a60ce2bda73ca691abb7c8">during the ceasefire in January</a>.

David Cunio, brother of Ariel Cunio, was kidnapped with his wife,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-war-hostages-cunio-captivity-869241bb259b00a8f98817edf89b0bc8">Sharon, and their 3-year-old twins</a>&nbsp;from the Nir Oz kibbutz. Sharon’s sister Danielle and her 5-year-old daughter, who were visiting, also were kidnapped. All were released in November, except for David Cunio. In July, Sharon shared a photo of the twins marking their fifth birthday, their second without their father, writing on Facebook that the girls have changed so much while he’s been in captivity that “they’re not the same little girls he knew.”

Evyatar David was taken hostage at the Nova music festival along with his childhood friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal. In August, Hamas released a video of David, gaunt and pale, who said he was digging his own grave. The condition of the hostages in the videos horrified Israelis and led tens of thousands of protesters to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-war-witkoff-hostage-tel-aviv-b90fe087e8254179667e0cd6094cd438">take to the streets</a>&nbsp;and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly hostage protests in months.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal was among those abducted from the Nova music festival, while his brother managed to escape. In the past year, he’s appeared in two videos released by Hamas. In one, he appears alongside his childhood friend, David, with militants filming them pleading for their freedom in a vehicle while they watch three other hostages on stage being released to the Red Cross.

Maksym Harkin was abducted from Nova, which was the first festival he had ever attended, according to his family. Harkin was born in Ukraine and moved to Israel with his family, where he lived in Tirat HaCarmel in the north. He has a 3-year-old daughter and was the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother. Just before he was taken, his mother said he sent a final text message that said, “I love you.” In July, Hamas released a video of him filmed under duress several months prior.

Eitan Horn, originally from Kfar Saba, was visiting his brother Iair at the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7. Both were kidnapped. For most of the war, the two were held with three other hostages in a filthy cell underground. In early February, militants filmed the emotional interaction between the brothers as they were told that Iair would be released and Eitan would stay in Gaza. Since his release,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-palestinian-hamas-hostages-humanitarian-aid-b8d65cfaaabf7f747301bcdac1f5314f">Iair Horn has campaigned for his brother</a>&nbsp;and the other hostages, flying frequently to the United States and meeting with politicians.

Bipin Joshi arrived in Israel from his native Nepal a month before the attack. He is the only non-Israeli hostage believed to be alive in Gaza. He came to Israel on a student exchange to work and study agriculture at kibbutz Alumim on the Gaza border. Ten of the 17 Nepali students in the program were killed during the attack. Joshi, who was able to throw a number of live grenades out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, was injured and kidnapped. Joshi’s sister, 17-year-old Pushpa Joshi,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nepal-israel-hamas-hostage-db2badc65a3dcc8a7b61e22076aa6772">regularly travels eight hours each direction</a>&nbsp;on buses to Kathmandu from her home in western Nepal to lobby officials to secure her brother’s release. In August, his family traveled to Israel to meet with President Isaac Herzog and join families demonstrating in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.

Segev Kalfon was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was last seen attempting to flee militants along the highway. Before the attack, he worked at his family’s bakery in Dimona, in southern Israeli. The middle child of three, Kalfon had recently been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, a condition his family has highlighted in urging his release. Kalfon’s family received a sign of life from him after the last ceasefire, when some of the hostages said they were held with him for months. Kalfon’s family has focused on religious rituals in their fight for his release, including traveling to the grave of prominent rabbis and dedicating a Torah scroll in his honor.

Bar Kupershtein was working at the Nova festival as a security guard when he was abducted. Witnesses said Kupershtein stayed at the festival to try to provide first aid to people who had been shot and injured. Kupershtein was the main financial support for his family after his father was severely injured in an accident several years ago, his aunt, Ora Rubinstein, told reporters. She said that his father worked with a physical therapist to regain the ability to speak, so he could meet with politicians to advocate for his son’s release. He has told the family that he will walk again when his son comes home, she said.

Omri Miran was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz kibbutz. During the attack, militants held his family, including his two daughters, ages 2 and 6 months, hostage in the kitchen of a neighbor’s house and then broadcast it on Facebook Live. Miran and the father of the other family, Tsachi Idan, were kidnapped.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-truce-hostages-netanyahu-4608f8d5c1d86be7249e0251c08d4bdd">Idan’s body was released</a>&nbsp;during the last hostage exchange after he was killed in captivity.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-passover-hostages-gaza-afc2e5c267a64cbd7bd8a0cd505534b8">Lishay Miran Lavi, Miran’s wife, said</a>&nbsp;their younger daughter knows “daddy Omri” only through photos and videos, and doesn’t really understand what a father is.

Eitan Mor was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival, where he helped evacuate people injured in the attack. Mor’s parents helped&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-hostages-ceasefire-deal-prisoners-e886ead73905a1b88429d67705d03c47">found the Tikva Forum</a>, a loosely organized group of hostage families. They advocated for military pressure, not an immediate ceasefire or hostage release deal, as the best chance for bringing the hostages home. That stance has put Mor’s father at odds with many of the other families of hostages.

Tamir Nimrodi was kidnapped from Erez, a crossing on the northern border of Gaza that had been the main route for people entering and leaving the territory. He had been serving with the Israeli defense body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza. Nimrodi was kidnapped with two other soldiers by militants who walked them to the Gaza gate and forced them to cross. Israel confirmed the deaths of the two soldiers who were kidnapped with Nimrodi. There has been no sign of life from Nimrodi in the two years since he was seen in footage walking into Gaza in shorts and a T-shirt without his glasses.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-ceasefire-hostages-release-hamas-f47ee44c76ee172b39a4116c2cb42d18">Herut Nimrodi, his mother, has said she doesn’t know</a>&nbsp;what is worse: to think he has been killed in captivity, or that he’s alive but being held in terrible conditions. “I’m scared to even imagine,” she said.

Yosef-Chaim Ohana was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was working as a bartender. Witnesses saw him attempting to help others escape before he was kidnapped. He is the oldest of three brothers, one of whom previously died from an illness.

Alon Ohel, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, was kidnapped at the Nova music festival from a mobile bomb shelter along with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hersh-goldberg-polin-israel-palestinians-gaza-hostages-0be443e7ce616cbce3f2cb984e7971ca">Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed</a>&nbsp;in captivity in August 2024. A talented pianist, his family has placed pianos across Israel and several sites around the world to raise awareness of his plight. Three other hostages who had been held with Ohel for more than a year were released during the previous ceasefire, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-anniversary-hostages-dd57a453fee3212fcaa56ce23b36b36c">Eli Sharabi, who said Ohel was like his adopted son</a>. Sharabi said they were kept chained for the entire period of their captivity and subsisted on a moldy pita per day. Ohel has shrapnel in his eye from the attack on the bomb shelter and his family is worried he may be partially blind.

Avinatan Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival along with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-hostages-profiles-80b14cd4a796aa265ebfcc5bb5928477">rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024</a>. On Oct. 7, Hamas released a video of the pair that has become one of the most well-known videos from that day. It showed Argamani on an all-terrain vehicle crying, “Don’t kill me!” and reaching out her arms to Or, who is being marched away from her by militants. Or worked in hi-tech in Tel Aviv before his abduction.

Matan Zangauker was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz along with his girlfriend,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-war-hostages-ceasefire-9875e2b5b8679b16106a9106bd37003c">Ilana Gritzewsky</a>. The two met while working on a medical cannabis farm there. Gritzewsky was released after 55 days and has since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-freed-hostages-gaza-hamas-ceasefire-c320040046b7f37d46c2e75dd92656d8">advocated tirelessly for his release</a>, wearing a hat of Zangauker’s she rescued from their burned home. His mother, Einav, has been a constant presence at protests, giving impassioned speeches and even being hoisted in a cage above the crowd to draw attention to the hostages’ plight. Zangauker, who said she was previously a Netanyahu supporter, has emerged as one of his harshest critics. ___

Associated Press writer Sam Metz contributed from Jerusalem.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740236871145.png" alt="Image Hostage and Missing Families Forum" />
 <figcaption>Image Hostage and Missing Families Forum</figcaption>
 </figure>TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Their faces stare down from every street corner in Israel on posters now sun-faded and ripped. Their stories, told by anguished family members, are almost as well-known as celebrities. They are civilians and soldiers, fathers and sons. Some were at the Nova music festival, where almost 400 people were killed and dozens kidnapped.The latest ceasefire, which began Friday, marks a key step toward ending a ruinous two-year war that was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, when some 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped.The fighting has killed 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children, and displaced around 90% of the Gaza population of some 2 million. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties in Gaza.There are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mideast-wars-hostages-d37b0d5bb5ce4340f3a8a48533948da0">currently 48 hostages being held in Gaza</a>, including the body of one soldier from a previous war. Israel has determined that at least 25 of the hostages were killed on Oct. 7, 2023, or died while in captivity. It is unclear how many of the remaining around 20 hostages are still alive and will return to Israel. There is only one remaining female hostage, who Israel believes was killed in captivity.With the start of the ceasefire on Friday, the remaining hostages are expected to be released within 72 hours. Israel is set to release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.Here is a look at 22 hostages Israel believes are still alive.<h2>Matan Angrest, 22</h2>Matan Angrest, an Israeli soldier, was kidnapped from his military tank in southern Israel. He is the oldest of four children from Kiryat Bialik, outside of Haifa. His family has been among the most vocal protesters and very critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday's two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, his mother, Anat Angrest, addressed her son at a rally. “I know you’re in pain, and I can’t hug you. I hear you whisper, ‘Come for me, Mom,’ and I can’t protect you," she said.<h2>Gali Berman &amp; Ziv Berman, 28</h2>The fraternal twins were taken from their homes in kibbutz Kfar Aza, on the border with Gaza, during the Oct. 7 attack. Seventeen others were also abducted from Kfar Aza, but the Berman twins are the only hostages from the kibbutz who remain in captivity. The family has heard from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-02-01-2025-bb560151db1437d0b35ac1d568457a46">hostages who returned in a previous deal</a>&nbsp;that, as of February, the brothers were alive but being held separately.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-iran-ceasefire-hostages-a54bb1fa663c33f4153a727ec1e396ee">Liran Berman, their older brother</a>, said it’s the longest the two have ever spent apart. In Kfar Aza, the twins lived in apartments across from each other. Gali is more outgoing, while Ziv is more reserved and shy with a sharp sense of humor, their brother said.<h2>Elkana Bohbot, 36</h2>Elkana Bohbot was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. In the past year, Hamas has published multiple videos of Bohbot, filmed under duress, including one where he has a fake telephone conversation with his wife, Rivka; their son, Reem; his mother and his brother — pleading with them to help him get out of Gaza. His son made binoculars in kindergarten which he often uses to go out and “look for his father,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-hostages-trump-99529bfc998abe2c1851fbfbf2f728ab">according to Bohbot’s mother, Ruhama</a>.<h2>Rom Braslavski, 21</h2>Braslavski was working as a security guard at the Nova festival. He attempted to help festival goers evacuate and was wounded in both hands before being kidnapped, witnesses said. In August, the Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of a skeletal Braslavski sobbing and pleading for his life, adding that injuries to his foot prevent him from standing. The videos of Braslavski and Evyatar David digging his own grave horrified Israelis, sparking some of the largest attendance in months at weekly protests.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-hostages-hunger-videos-c9951a33a7f8d47d4ad77705d1267fbd">His father, Ofir, said</a>&nbsp;Rom is usually a strong, happy-go-lucky kid, and that video is the first time he’s seen his son cry.<h2>Nimrod Cohen, 21</h2>Nimrod Cohen was kidnapped from a tank where he was stationed as a soldier in southern Israel. Cohen is obsessed with Rubik's cubes, his family said, and a burned Rubik's cube was found in the tank he was abducted from. This year, his mother, Viki Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-passover-hostages-gaza-afc2e5c267a64cbd7bd8a0cd505534b8">illustrated a Passover haggadah</a>, the text laying out the rituals and story recited during the Passover holiday, in honor of hostages, partly because her family has stopped celebrating holidays since the attack. “We don’t gather as a family, because it reminds us how much he is missing,” Cohen said. The only time the extended family gathers is at protests, she said.<h2>Ariel Cunio, 28</h2>The youngest of four Cunio brothers, Ariel was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud, and her brother, Dolev, a married father of four who was later killed in captivity. According to news reports, Cunio and Yehoud had returned from an extended trip to South America weeks before the attack and had just adopted a puppy. Yehoud was released&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-01-30-2025-3cc7131495a60ce2bda73ca691abb7c8">during the ceasefire in January</a>.<h2>David Cunio, 35</h2>David Cunio, brother of Ariel Cunio, was kidnapped with his wife,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-war-hostages-cunio-captivity-869241bb259b00a8f98817edf89b0bc8">Sharon, and their 3-year-old twins</a>&nbsp;from the Nir Oz kibbutz. Sharon’s sister Danielle and her 5-year-old daughter, who were visiting, also were kidnapped. All were released in November, except for David Cunio. In July, Sharon shared a photo of the twins marking their fifth birthday, their second without their father, writing on Facebook that the girls have changed so much while he’s been in captivity that “they’re not the same little girls he knew.”<h2>Evyatar David, 24</h2>Evyatar David was taken hostage at the Nova music festival along with his childhood friend, Guy Gilboa-Dalal. In August, Hamas released a video of David, gaunt and pale, who said he was digging his own grave. The condition of the hostages in the videos horrified Israelis and led tens of thousands of protesters to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-war-witkoff-hostage-tel-aviv-b90fe087e8254179667e0cd6094cd438">take to the streets</a>&nbsp;and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly hostage protests in months.<h2>Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24</h2>Guy Gilboa-Dalal was among those abducted from the Nova music festival, while his brother managed to escape. In the past year, he’s appeared in two videos released by Hamas. In one, he appears alongside his childhood friend, David, with militants filming them pleading for their freedom in a vehicle while they watch three other hostages on stage being released to the Red Cross.<h2>Maksym Harkin, 37</h2>Maksym Harkin was abducted from Nova, which was the first festival he had ever attended, according to his family. Harkin was born in Ukraine and moved to Israel with his family, where he lived in Tirat HaCarmel in the north. He has a 3-year-old daughter and was the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother. Just before he was taken, his mother said he sent a final text message that said, “I love you.” In July, Hamas released a video of him filmed under duress several months prior.<h2>Eitan Horn, 38</h2>Eitan Horn, originally from Kfar Saba, was visiting his brother Iair at the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7. Both were kidnapped. For most of the war, the two were held with three other hostages in a filthy cell underground. In early February, militants filmed the emotional interaction between the brothers as they were told that Iair would be released and Eitan would stay in Gaza. Since his release,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-palestinian-hamas-hostages-humanitarian-aid-b8d65cfaaabf7f747301bcdac1f5314f">Iair Horn has campaigned for his brother</a>&nbsp;and the other hostages, flying frequently to the United States and meeting with politicians.<h2>Bipin Joshi, 24</h2>Bipin Joshi arrived in Israel from his native Nepal a month before the attack. He is the only non-Israeli hostage believed to be alive in Gaza. He came to Israel on a student exchange to work and study agriculture at kibbutz Alumim on the Gaza border. Ten of the 17 Nepali students in the program were killed during the attack. Joshi, who was able to throw a number of live grenades out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, was injured and kidnapped. Joshi’s sister, 17-year-old Pushpa Joshi,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nepal-israel-hamas-hostage-db2badc65a3dcc8a7b61e22076aa6772">regularly travels eight hours each direction</a>&nbsp;on buses to Kathmandu from her home in western Nepal to lobby officials to secure her brother’s release. In August, his family traveled to Israel to meet with President Isaac Herzog and join families demonstrating in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.<h2>Segev Kalfon, 27</h2>Segev Kalfon was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was last seen attempting to flee militants along the highway. Before the attack, he worked at his family’s bakery in Dimona, in southern Israeli. The middle child of three, Kalfon had recently been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, a condition his family has highlighted in urging his release. Kalfon’s family received a sign of life from him after the last ceasefire, when some of the hostages said they were held with him for months. Kalfon’s family has focused on religious rituals in their fight for his release, including traveling to the grave of prominent rabbis and dedicating a Torah scroll in his honor.<h2>Bar Kupershtein, 23</h2>Bar Kupershtein was working at the Nova festival as a security guard when he was abducted. Witnesses said Kupershtein stayed at the festival to try to provide first aid to people who had been shot and injured. Kupershtein was the main financial support for his family after his father was severely injured in an accident several years ago, his aunt, Ora Rubinstein, told reporters. She said that his father worked with a physical therapist to regain the ability to speak, so he could meet with politicians to advocate for his son’s release. He has told the family that he will walk again when his son comes home, she said.<h2>Omri Miran, 48</h2>Omri Miran was kidnapped from the Nahal Oz kibbutz. During the attack, militants held his family, including his two daughters, ages 2 and 6 months, hostage in the kitchen of a neighbor’s house and then broadcast it on Facebook Live. Miran and the father of the other family, Tsachi Idan, were kidnapped.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-truce-hostages-netanyahu-4608f8d5c1d86be7249e0251c08d4bdd">Idan’s body was released</a>&nbsp;during the last hostage exchange after he was killed in captivity.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-passover-hostages-gaza-afc2e5c267a64cbd7bd8a0cd505534b8">Lishay Miran Lavi, Miran’s wife, said</a>&nbsp;their younger daughter knows “daddy Omri” only through photos and videos, and doesn’t really understand what a father is.<h2>Eitan Mor, 25</h2>Eitan Mor was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival, where he helped evacuate people injured in the attack. Mor’s parents helped&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-hostages-ceasefire-deal-prisoners-e886ead73905a1b88429d67705d03c47">found the Tikva Forum</a>, a loosely organized group of hostage families. They advocated for military pressure, not an immediate ceasefire or hostage release deal, as the best chance for bringing the hostages home. That stance has put Mor’s father at odds with many of the other families of hostages.<h2>Tamir Nimrodi, 20</h2>Tamir Nimrodi was kidnapped from Erez, a crossing on the northern border of Gaza that had been the main route for people entering and leaving the territory. He had been serving with the Israeli defense body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza. Nimrodi was kidnapped with two other soldiers by militants who walked them to the Gaza gate and forced them to cross. Israel confirmed the deaths of the two soldiers who were kidnapped with Nimrodi. There has been no sign of life from Nimrodi in the two years since he was seen in footage walking into Gaza in shorts and a T-shirt without his glasses.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-ceasefire-hostages-release-hamas-f47ee44c76ee172b39a4116c2cb42d18">Herut Nimrodi, his mother, has said she doesn’t know</a>&nbsp;what is worse: to think he has been killed in captivity, or that he’s alive but being held in terrible conditions. “I’m scared to even imagine,” she said.<h2>Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25</h2>Yosef-Chaim Ohana was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was working as a bartender. Witnesses saw him attempting to help others escape before he was kidnapped. He is the oldest of three brothers, one of whom previously died from an illness.<h2>Alon Ohel, 24</h2>Alon Ohel, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, was kidnapped at the Nova music festival from a mobile bomb shelter along with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hersh-goldberg-polin-israel-palestinians-gaza-hostages-0be443e7ce616cbce3f2cb984e7971ca">Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed</a>&nbsp;in captivity in August 2024. A talented pianist, his family has placed pianos across Israel and several sites around the world to raise awareness of his plight. Three other hostages who had been held with Ohel for more than a year were released during the previous ceasefire, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-anniversary-hostages-dd57a453fee3212fcaa56ce23b36b36c">Eli Sharabi, who said Ohel was like his adopted son</a>. Sharabi said they were kept chained for the entire period of their captivity and subsisted on a moldy pita per day. Ohel has shrapnel in his eye from the attack on the bomb shelter and his family is worried he may be partially blind.<h2>Avinatan Or, 32</h2>Avinatan Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival along with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, who was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-hostages-profiles-80b14cd4a796aa265ebfcc5bb5928477">rescued by Israeli forces in June 2024</a>. On Oct. 7, Hamas released a video of the pair that has become one of the most well-known videos from that day. It showed Argamani on an all-terrain vehicle crying, “Don’t kill me!” and reaching out her arms to Or, who is being marched away from her by militants. Or worked in hi-tech in Tel Aviv before his abduction.<h2>Matan Zangauker, 25</h2>Matan Zangauker was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz along with his girlfriend,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-war-hostages-ceasefire-9875e2b5b8679b16106a9106bd37003c">Ilana Gritzewsky</a>. The two met while working on a medical cannabis farm there. Gritzewsky was released after 55 days and has since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-freed-hostages-gaza-hamas-ceasefire-c320040046b7f37d46c2e75dd92656d8">advocated tirelessly for his release</a>, wearing a hat of Zangauker’s she rescued from their burned home. His mother, Einav, has been a constant presence at protests, giving impassioned speeches and even being hoisted in a cage above the crowd to draw attention to the hostages’ plight. Zangauker, who said she was previously a Netanyahu supporter, has emerged as one of his harshest critics. ___Associated Press writer Sam Metz contributed from Jerusalem.

Who are the hostages Israel believes are still alive?

RILEY COUNTY –&nbsp;Police are investigating a shooting that occurred Saturday afternoon in the 1300 block of Marlatt Avenue in Manhattan, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.

Just before 2p.m. polic responded to a report of shots fired in the 1300 Block of Marlatt Avenue. Upon arrival, RCPD located a 35-year-old man suffering from multiple apparent gunshot wounds. Officers immediately rendered first aid until emergency medical personnel arrived. The victim was transported to Stormont Vail in Topeka for serious injuries.

RILEY COUNTY –&nbsp;Police are investigating a shooting that occurred Saturday afternoon in the 1300 block of Marlatt Avenue in Manhattan, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.Just before 2p.m. polic responded to a report of shots fired in the 1300 Block of Marlatt Avenue. Upon arrival, RCPD located a 35-year-old man suffering from multiple apparent gunshot wounds. Officers immediately rendered first aid until emergency medical personnel arrived. The victim was transported to Stormont Vail in Topeka for serious injuries.

Police: Man hospitalized after shooting in Manhattan

JOHNSON COUNTY —An officer’s “use of deadly force which resulted in the death of Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon, 25, Grandview, Missouri, was justified under Kansas Law," according to&nbsp;Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.

Following Howe's announcement, Lenexa Police released body camera video of the deadly encounter.

Just after 3a.m. on June 22, the Lenexa Police Department received a 911 call from a person who said that a tall Hispanic person in a blue shirt was holding a gun against the head of another person. This was occurring at the pool area at the Lenexa Crossings Apartments located at 12334 W. 97th Terrace, according to a statement from police.

The caller said that she was in a car nearby. Two Lenexa officers arrived minutes later and began to search the parking lot for the involved individuals. The officers saw a car with its lights on and approached it. 

Officer “A” approached the driver’s door and saw a Hispanic male, later identified as Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon, in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately noticed a black handgun in Cartagena-Chacon’s lap. Officer “A” ordered Cartagena-Chacon to put his hands in the air and not to touch the gun.

 Cartagena-Chacon picked up the gun. He then brought the gun up in a motion so the barrel was pointed toward the driver’s door, where Officer“A” stood. 

Cartagena-Chacon then began to move the gun towards the front passenger door where Officer “B” stood. At that time Officer “A” fired his weapon multiple times, killing Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon. The JohnsonCounty Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team “OICIIT” was called to handle this investigation

Cartagena-Chacon’s cause of death was due to multiple gunshot wounds by the officer. Cacon also had a blood alcohol level of .248, according to an autopsy.

On June 22, 2025 at around 3:00 a.m. the Lenexa Police Department receiveda 911 call from a person who said that a tall Hispanic person in a blue shirt washolding a gun against the head of another person. This was occurring at thepool area at the Lenexa Crossings Apartments located at 12334 W. 97th Terrace. The caller said that she was in a car nearby.Two Lenexa officers arrived minutes later and began to search the parking lotfor the involved individuals. The officers saw a car with its lights on andapproached it. Officer “A” approached the driver’s door and saw a Hispanicmale, later identified as Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon, in the driver’s seat.The officer immediately noticed a black handgun in Cartagena-Chacon’s lap.Officer “A” ordered Cartagena-Chacon to put his hands in the air and not totouch the gun. Cartagena-Chacon picked up the gun. He then brought the gunup in a motion so the barrel was pointed toward the driver’s door, where Officer“A” stood. Cartagena-Chacon then began to move the gun towards the frontpassenger door where Officer “B” stood. At that time Officer “A” fired hisweapon multiple times, killing Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon. The JohnsonCounty Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team “OICIIT” was calledto handle this investigation

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760061280942.png" alt="Image from Lenexa Police video" />
 <figcaption>Image from Lenexa Police video</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —An officer’s “use of deadly force which resulted in the death of Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon, 25, Grandview, Missouri, was justified under Kansas Law," according to&nbsp;Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.Following Howe's announcement, Lenexa Police released body camera video of the deadly encounter.Just after 3a.m. on June 22, the Lenexa Police Department received a 911 call from a person who said that a tall Hispanic person in a blue shirt was holding a gun against the head of another person. This was occurring at the pool area at the Lenexa Crossings Apartments located at 12334 W. 97th Terrace, according to a statement from police.The caller said that she was in a car nearby. Two Lenexa officers arrived minutes later and began to search the parking lot for the involved individuals. The officers saw a car with its lights on and approached it. Officer “A” approached the driver’s door and saw a Hispanic male, later identified as Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon, in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately noticed a black handgun in Cartagena-Chacon’s lap. Officer “A” ordered Cartagena-Chacon to put his hands in the air and not to touch the gun. Cartagena-Chacon picked up the gun. He then brought the gun up in a motion so the barrel was pointed toward the driver’s door, where Officer“A” stood. Cartagena-Chacon then began to move the gun towards the front passenger door where Officer “B” stood. At that time Officer “A” fired his weapon multiple times, killing Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon. The JohnsonCounty Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team “OICIIT” was called to handle this investigationCartagena-Chacon’s cause of death was due to multiple gunshot wounds by the officer. Cacon also had a blood alcohol level of .248, according to an autopsy.On June 22, 2025 at around 3:00 a.m. the Lenexa Police Department receiveda 911 call from a person who said that a tall Hispanic person in a blue shirt washolding a gun against the head of another person. This was occurring at thepool area at the Lenexa Crossings Apartments located at 12334 W. 97th Terrace. The caller said that she was in a car nearby.Two Lenexa officers arrived minutes later and began to search the parking lotfor the involved individuals. The officers saw a car with its lights on andapproached it. Officer “A” approached the driver’s door and saw a Hispanicmale, later identified as Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon, in the driver’s seat.The officer immediately noticed a black handgun in Cartagena-Chacon’s lap.Officer “A” ordered Cartagena-Chacon to put his hands in the air and not totouch the gun. Cartagena-Chacon picked up the gun. He then brought the gunup in a motion so the barrel was pointed toward the driver’s door, where Officer“A” stood. Cartagena-Chacon then began to move the gun towards the frontpassenger door where Officer “B” stood. At that time Officer “A” fired hisweapon multiple times, killing Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon. The JohnsonCounty Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team “OICIIT” was calledto handle this investigation

Kan. officer justified in killing man who raised gun in direction of police

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-pay-government-shutdown-congress-trump-e2eabd75a923a7a6feaeeb4af1854054">U.S. troops are paid</a>&nbsp;Wednesday despite the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/government-shutdown">government shutdown</a>.

Trump said in a social media post that he was acting because “our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.”

The Republican president's action removes one of the pressure points that could have forced Congress into action, likely ensuring that the shutdown -- now in its 11th day and counting — extends into a third week and possibly beyond. But no similar action seems forthcoming for federal workers,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-federal-worker-firings-0439e8d0979d9a32e021c5c851fea1cf">thousands of whom are now being laid off</a>&nbsp;during the lapse in government operations. The White House budget office started that process on Friday.

Trump blamed Democrats and said he was exercising his authority as commander in chief to direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.” The Republican president added, "We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”

U.S service members were in danger of not receiving their next paycheck on Wednesday after the government shut down on Oct. 1, the start of the federal budget cycle. The U.S. has about 1.3 million active-duty service members, and the prospect of troops going without pay has been a focal point when lawmakers on Capitol Hill have discussed the shutdown’s negative impact.

Trump did not say where he's getting the money from but it likely will be funded by the billions of dollars that were pumped into the Defense Department under Trump's big tax and spending cut bill that he signed in the summer. The Congressional Budget Office said such a move was possible.

“The Administration also could decide to use mandatory funding provided in the 2025 reconciliation act or other sources of mandatory funding to continue activities financed by those direct appropriations at various agencies,” CBO said.

The CBO cited the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Management and Budget as among the departments that received specific funds under the law.

Some of the Pentagon's money "could be used to pay active-duty personnel during a shutdown, thus reducing the number of excepted workers who would receive delayed compensation,” CBO wrote in a letter responding to questions raised by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

The White House did not immediately respond to an email request for details on the president's announcement.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760115585607.png" alt="File photo President Trump speaking to reporters on Friday -from White House video" />
 <figcaption>File photo President Trump speaking to reporters on Friday -from White House video</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-pay-government-shutdown-congress-trump-e2eabd75a923a7a6feaeeb4af1854054">U.S. troops are paid</a>&nbsp;Wednesday despite the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/government-shutdown">government shutdown</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Trump delivers for the troops. <a href="https://t.co/iZOvn2GULG">pic.twitter.com/iZOvn2GULG</a>&mdash; Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1977066803601031594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Trump said in a social media post that he was acting because “our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.”The Republican president's action removes one of the pressure points that could have forced Congress into action, likely ensuring that the shutdown -- now in its 11th day and counting — extends into a third week and possibly beyond. But no similar action seems forthcoming for federal workers,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-federal-worker-firings-0439e8d0979d9a32e021c5c851fea1cf">thousands of whom are now being laid off</a>&nbsp;during the lapse in government operations. The White House budget office started that process on Friday.Trump blamed Democrats and said he was exercising his authority as commander in chief to direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.” The Republican president added, "We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”U.S service members were in danger of not receiving their next paycheck on Wednesday after the government shut down on Oct. 1, the start of the federal budget cycle. The U.S. has about 1.3 million active-duty service members, and the prospect of troops going without pay has been a focal point when lawmakers on Capitol Hill have discussed the shutdown’s negative impact.Trump did not say where he's getting the money from but it likely will be funded by the billions of dollars that were pumped into the Defense Department under Trump's big tax and spending cut bill that he signed in the summer. The Congressional Budget Office said such a move was possible.“The Administration also could decide to use mandatory funding provided in the 2025 reconciliation act or other sources of mandatory funding to continue activities financed by those direct appropriations at various agencies,” CBO said.The CBO cited the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Management and Budget as among the departments that received specific funds under the law.Some of the Pentagon's money "could be used to pay active-duty personnel during a shutdown, thus reducing the number of excepted workers who would receive delayed compensation,” CBO wrote in a letter responding to questions raised by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.The White House did not immediately respond to an email request for details on the president's announcement.

Trump identifies funds to ensure troops are paid despite shutdown

LOS ANGELES (AP) — <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/diane-keaton">Diane Keaton</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/celebrity-7b88f078ab8348ef9393f68ea73823e8">Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,”</a>&nbsp;“The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, has died. She was 79.

People Magazine reported Saturday that she died in California with loved ones, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.

The unexpected news was met with shock around the world.

“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star,” Bette Midler said in an Instagram post. She and Keaton co-starred in “The First Wives Club.”

Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in that necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f570e17767a44ef392ea92fa70b3a64d">heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams,</a>&nbsp;the woman unfortunate enough to join the Corleone family.

Her star-making performances in the 1970s, many of which were in Woody Allen films, were not a flash in the pan and she would continue to charm new generations for decades thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers.

She played a businessperson who unexpectedly inherits an infant in “Baby Boom,” the mother of the bride in the beloved remake of “Father of the Bride,” a newly single woman in “The First Wives Club,” and a divorced playwright who gets involved with Jack Nicholson's womanizing music executive in “Something's Gotta Give.”

Keaton won an Oscar for “Annie Hall” and would go on to be nominated three more times, for “Reds,” “Marvin's Room," and “Something's Gotta Give.

In her very Keaton way, upon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQKuNHhX8Js">accepting her Oscar in 1978</a>&nbsp;she laughed and said, “This is something.”

Keaton was born Diane Hall in January 1946 in Los Angeles. Her mother was a homemaker and photographer, and her father was in real estate and civil engineering, and both would inspire her love in the arts, from fashion to architecture.

Keaton was drawn to theater and singing while in school in Santa Ana, California, and she dropped out of college after a year to make a go of it in Manhattan. Actors’ Equity already had a Diane Hall in their ranks, and she took Keaton, her mother’s maiden name, as her own.

She studied under Sanford Meisner in New York and has credited him with giving her the freedom to “chart the complex terrain of human behavior within the safety of his guidance. It made playing with fire fun.”

She started on the stage as an understudy in the Broadway production for “Hair,” and in Allen’ s “Play It Again, Sam” in 1968, for which she would receive a Tony nomination.

Keaton made her film debut in the 1970 romantic comedy “Lovers and Other Strangers,” but her big breakthrough would come a few years later when she was cast in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” which won best picture and become one of the most beloved films of all time

The 1970s were an incredibly fruitful time for Keaton thanks in part to her ongoing collaboration with Allen in both comedic and dramatic roles. She appeared in “Sleeper,” “Love and Death,” “Interiors,” Manhattan,” and the film version of “Play it Again, Sam.” The 1977 crime-drama “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” also earned her raves.

Allen and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marshall-brickman-woody-allen-annie-hall-writer-c659b98efb8502dd3f99ea2c406f43ab">late Marshall Brickman</a>&nbsp;gave Keaton one of her most iconic roles in “Annie Hall,” the infectious woman from Chippewa Falls whom Allen’s Alvy Singer cannot get over. The film is considered one of the great romantic comedies of all time, with Keaton’s eccentric, self-deprecating Annie at its heart.

Keaton and Allen were also in a romantic relationship, from about 1968, when she met him while auditioning for his play, until about 1974. Afterward they remained collaborators and friends.

“He was so hip, with his thick glasses and cool suits,” Keaton wrote in her memoir. “But it was his manner that got me, his way of gesturing, his hands, his coughing and looking down in a self-deprecating way while he told jokes.”

She was also romantically linked to Pacino, who played her husband in “The Godfather,” and Warren Beatty who directed her and whom she co-starred with in “Reds.” She never married but did adopt two children when she was in her 50s: a daughter, Dexter, and a son, Duke.

In 1987 she began another long-standing collaboration with Nancy Meyers, which would result in four beloved films starting with “Baby Boom,” directed by Charles Shyer.

Their next team-up would be in the remake of “Father of the Bride,” which Shyer directed and co-wrote with Meyers. She and Steve Martin played the flustered parents to the bride which would become a big hit and spawn a sequel.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760210901320.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>LOS ANGELES (AP) — <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/diane-keaton">Diane Keaton</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/celebrity-7b88f078ab8348ef9393f68ea73823e8">Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,”</a>&nbsp;“The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, has died. She was 79.People Magazine reported Saturday that she died in California with loved ones, citing a family spokesperson. No other details were immediately available, and representatives for Keaton did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.The unexpected news was met with shock around the world.“She was hilarious, a complete original, and completely without guile, or any of the competitiveness one would have expected from such a star,” Bette Midler said in an Instagram post. She and Keaton co-starred in “The First Wives Club.”Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in that necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f570e17767a44ef392ea92fa70b3a64d">heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams,</a>&nbsp;the woman unfortunate enough to join the Corleone family.Her star-making performances in the 1970s, many of which were in Woody Allen films, were not a flash in the pan and she would continue to charm new generations for decades thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers.She played a businessperson who unexpectedly inherits an infant in “Baby Boom,” the mother of the bride in the beloved remake of “Father of the Bride,” a newly single woman in “The First Wives Club,” and a divorced playwright who gets involved with Jack Nicholson's womanizing music executive in “Something's Gotta Give.”Keaton won an Oscar for “Annie Hall” and would go on to be nominated three more times, for “Reds,” “Marvin's Room," and “Something's Gotta Give.In her very Keaton way, upon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQKuNHhX8Js">accepting her Oscar in 1978</a>&nbsp;she laughed and said, “This is something.”Keaton was born Diane Hall in January 1946 in Los Angeles. Her mother was a homemaker and photographer, and her father was in real estate and civil engineering, and both would inspire her love in the arts, from fashion to architecture.Keaton was drawn to theater and singing while in school in Santa Ana, California, and she dropped out of college after a year to make a go of it in Manhattan. Actors’ Equity already had a Diane Hall in their ranks, and she took Keaton, her mother’s maiden name, as her own.She studied under Sanford Meisner in New York and has credited him with giving her the freedom to “chart the complex terrain of human behavior within the safety of his guidance. It made playing with fire fun.”She started on the stage as an understudy in the Broadway production for “Hair,” and in Allen’ s “Play It Again, Sam” in 1968, for which she would receive a Tony nomination.Keaton made her film debut in the 1970 romantic comedy “Lovers and Other Strangers,” but her big breakthrough would come a few years later when she was cast in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” which won best picture and become one of the most beloved films of all timeThe 1970s were an incredibly fruitful time for Keaton thanks in part to her ongoing collaboration with Allen in both comedic and dramatic roles. She appeared in “Sleeper,” “Love and Death,” “Interiors,” Manhattan,” and the film version of “Play it Again, Sam.” The 1977 crime-drama “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” also earned her raves.Allen and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marshall-brickman-woody-allen-annie-hall-writer-c659b98efb8502dd3f99ea2c406f43ab">late Marshall Brickman</a>&nbsp;gave Keaton one of her most iconic roles in “Annie Hall,” the infectious woman from Chippewa Falls whom Allen’s Alvy Singer cannot get over. The film is considered one of the great romantic comedies of all time, with Keaton’s eccentric, self-deprecating Annie at its heart.Keaton and Allen were also in a romantic relationship, from about 1968, when she met him while auditioning for his play, until about 1974. Afterward they remained collaborators and friends.“He was so hip, with his thick glasses and cool suits,” Keaton wrote in her memoir. “But it was his manner that got me, his way of gesturing, his hands, his coughing and looking down in a self-deprecating way while he told jokes.”She was also romantically linked to Pacino, who played her husband in “The Godfather,” and Warren Beatty who directed her and whom she co-starred with in “Reds.” She never married but did adopt two children when she was in her 50s: a daughter, Dexter, and a son, Duke.In 1987 she began another long-standing collaboration with Nancy Meyers, which would result in four beloved films starting with “Baby Boom,” directed by Charles Shyer.Their next team-up would be in the remake of “Father of the Bride,” which Shyer directed and co-wrote with Meyers. She and Steve Martin played the flustered parents to the bride which would become a big hit and spawn a sequel.In 2003, Meyers would direct her in the romantic comedy “Something’s Gotta Give.” Her character Erica Barry, with her beautiful Hamptons home and ivory outfits was a key inspiration for the recent costal grandmother fashion trend. It earned her what would be her last Oscar nomination and, later, she’d call it her favorite film.Keaton continued working steadily throughout the 2000s, with notable roles in “The Family Stone,” “Morning Glory,” and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/book-club-jane-fonda-candice-bergen-530734c7a1da99694f7b0d01d3ff8ec2">“Book Club” films.</a>Keaton was celebrated with an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RzXuJAhb0k">AFI Life Achievement Award in 2017.</a>“I feel like it’s the wedding I never had, or the big gathering I never had, or the retirement party I never had, or all these things that I always avoided — the big bash,” she told the AP. “It’s really a big event for me and I’m really, deeply grateful.”___AP National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed.