Playoff basketball returns to Mabee Arena on Thursday as the KCAC Regular Season Champion and No. 1 seeded Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes host No. 8 seed University of Saint Mary Spires at 7 p.m.

All tickets must be purchased in advance on the KCAC ticketing portal: <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/242c8961-0783-4fe0-8102-9280169780a4?elinkdata=20352">https://kcacsports.com/sports/2023/1/6/tickets.aspx</a>. KWU will have staff at the entry gates to assist fans with purchasing tickets through the KCAC ticketing portal, but there will be no cash sales and no point-of-sale ticket sales on site. KWU regular season passes will not be accepted at the event.

The games will be streamed live on the Coyote Sports Network, part of the KCAC Digital Network at <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/c1fa5552-9a27-4d55-8f47-19d3aae15037?elinkdata=20352">www.kcacnetwork.com/kansaswesleyan</a>

An audio-only broadcast of the game will be available online at <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/a05a8257-2c05-4404-ab80-32c3c20e34b2?elinkdata=20352">salinapost.com</a>, by listening live to KINA Radio. The Voice of the Coyotes Tyler Henry and Russ Cossel will have the call of the game with Coyote Pregame Live starting at 6:30 p.m. The game can also be heard locally on KINA AM 910 and simulcast on 107.5 FM.

Live Stats will be available as well, at <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/4df98a32-ecef-45c3-a33f-f202fedef7ee?elinkdata=20352">www.kwucoyotes.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary</a>

KWU and Saint Mary split the regular season meetings, each winning on the opponent's home floor. KWU won 66-54 on December 14 in Leavenworth, and USM won 75-70 on February 1 in Salina.

The teams last met in the KCAC tournament on February 19, 2007, as KWU picked up a 91-45 win in the game.

In the last meeting, Summer Wieneke scored 16 points off the bench for the Spires to lead Saint Mary to the win. USM held KWU to 3 of 20 shooting in the first quarter and 3 of 18 shooting in the fourth. <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/d84e6209-9314-4b90-9924-7623819db5e5?elinkdata=20352">Hampton Williams</a> had a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds for the Coyotes in the game.

In December in Leavenworth, KWU got 15 points and 12 rebounds from Williams while <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/bf55f101-4045-4add-9abf-6ae5f00cc6dd?elinkdata=20352">Angel Lee</a> had 11 as KWU overcame a 25.9 percent shooting night, hitting 33 of 48 free throws to come away with the 12-point win.

In the all-time series, KWU leads Saint Mary 33-19.

Kansas Wesleyan enters the KCAC tournament with a 22-6 overall record and finished KCAC play 18-4 overall. KWU averages 75.8 points per game while holding opponents to 63.3. KWU shoots 44 percent from the field as a team, 34.5 percent from 3-point range and 72.3 percent from the free throw line. KWU's opponents shoot 38.3 percent from the field, 24.8 percent from 3-point range and 67.7 percent at the line. The Coyotes average 39.6 rebounds per game, outrebounding opponents by 5.6 per game.

KWU has five players averaging 9.0 points per game or better on the season led by <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/0293f2fa-a8fe-4e49-a343-0d6804647d4e?elinkdata=20352">LaMyah Ricks</a> averaging 12.0 points per game. <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/6e61df14-9edf-42df-8948-a2ee4a913fd6?elinkdata=20352">Hampton Williams</a> leads the Coyotes in rebounding at 7.3 per game.

KWU ranks second in the KCAC in scoring offense, and second in scoring defense. KWU leads the KCAC in defensive 3-point percentage and ranks 13th in the NAIA. Ricks ranks 18th in the KCAC in scoring average, and Williams ranks seventh in the KCAC in rebounding average.

This season marks only the second time in program history KWU has won the KCAC Championship outright, the other time coming in 2019-20 under Coach <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/e05405f5-dba9-412e-abe8-e3126c2f7c49?elinkdata=20352">Ryan Showman</a>. KWU was Co-Champions in 1987-88, 2008-09, and 2010-11.

Showman was named as the Lonnie Kruse KCAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year headlining KWU's All-KCAC picks this season. <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/7f0ff6da-7076-4511-9931-fbd8eabad4cf?elinkdata=20352">LaMyah Ricks</a> was named to the All-KCAC First Team, <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/68a58dbc-7aa8-49cf-8020-f0eec914e069?elinkdata=20352">Angel Lee</a> and <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/872a41ad-e79d-4bb6-ab0b-66e20dfa7115?elinkdata=20352">Hampton Williams</a> were named to the All-KCAC Third Team, and <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/84f48094-331b-47c2-be7b-2b9185dbcc3b?elinkdata=20352">Jill Stephens</a> was named to the Honorable Mention team. Ricks also earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team.

Saint Mary is 13-15 overall and finished KCAC play with a 12-10 record. Saint Mary averages 70 points per game while shooting 38.7 percent from the field, 30.9 percent from 3-point range and 72 percent from the free throw line. The Spires average 39.6 rebounds per game.

Alanis Delgado leads the Spires averaging 15.5 points per game. Addison Schletzbaum leads the Spires in rebounding averaging 7.6 per contest.

Alanis Delgado was named to the All-KCAC Second Team and Addison Schletzbaum was named Honorable Mention. Addison Tower was named to the All-Freshman team.

All quarterfinal match-ups will be played Thursday night at the home site of the higher seeded team.In the other three quarterfinals No. 4 seed Bethel hosts No. 5 Friends, No. 3 Evangel hosts No. 6 Sterling, and No. 2 seed Tabor hosts No. 7 seed Bethany.

On Saturday will be the semifinals with games starting at 7 p.m. The KWU vs Saint Mary winner will get the winner of the Bethel vs Friends game. The winner between Tabor vs Bethany and Evangel vs Sterling will meet in the other semifinal. Both semifinal games will be played at the higher seeded team.

New this year, there will be no Park City Arena for the KCAC Championship. KCAC officials decided to make the change in the tournament and move the championship games back to the home site of the higher seeded team. The KCAC Championship will be played on Tuesday, March 4 staring at 7 p.m.

The winner of the KCAC Tournament receives an automatic berth to the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship. The second automatic berth to the NAIA Championships goes to the highest remaining seed in the KCAC tournament, regardless of tournament finish, meant to protect the regular season champion, should it lose during the tournament. If the KCAC regular season champion wins the tournament, the No. 2 seed in the tournament receives the second berth, regardless of tournament finish.

Playoff basketball returns to Mabee Arena on Thursday as the KCAC Regular Season Champion and No. 1 seeded Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes host No. 8 seed University of Saint Mary Spires at 7 p.m.TICKETSAll tickets must be purchased in advance on the KCAC ticketing portal: <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/242c8961-0783-4fe0-8102-9280169780a4?elinkdata=20352">https://kcacsports.com/sports/2023/1/6/tickets.aspx</a>. KWU will have staff at the entry gates to assist fans with purchasing tickets through the KCAC ticketing portal, but there will be no cash sales and no point-of-sale ticket sales on site. KWU regular season passes will not be accepted at the event.GAME COVERAGEThe games will be streamed live on the Coyote Sports Network, part of the KCAC Digital Network at <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/c1fa5552-9a27-4d55-8f47-19d3aae15037?elinkdata=20352">www.kcacnetwork.com/kansaswesleyan</a>An audio-only broadcast of the game will be available online at <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/a05a8257-2c05-4404-ab80-32c3c20e34b2?elinkdata=20352">salinapost.com</a>, by listening live to KINA Radio. The Voice of the Coyotes Tyler Henry and Russ Cossel will have the call of the game with Coyote Pregame Live starting at 6:30 p.m. The game can also be heard locally on KINA AM 910 and simulcast on 107.5 FM.Live Stats will be available as well, at <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/4df98a32-ecef-45c3-a33f-f202fedef7ee?elinkdata=20352">www.kwucoyotes.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary</a>THE MATCH-UPKWU and Saint Mary split the regular season meetings, each winning on the opponent's home floor. KWU won 66-54 on December 14 in Leavenworth, and USM won 75-70 on February 1 in Salina.The teams last met in the KCAC tournament on February 19, 2007, as KWU picked up a 91-45 win in the game.In the last meeting, Summer Wieneke scored 16 points off the bench for the Spires to lead Saint Mary to the win. USM held KWU to 3 of 20 shooting in the first quarter and 3 of 18 shooting in the fourth. <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/d84e6209-9314-4b90-9924-7623819db5e5?elinkdata=20352">Hampton Williams</a> had a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds for the Coyotes in the game.In December in Leavenworth, KWU got 15 points and 12 rebounds from Williams while <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/bf55f101-4045-4add-9abf-6ae5f00cc6dd?elinkdata=20352">Angel Lee</a> had 11 as KWU overcame a 25.9 percent shooting night, hitting 33 of 48 free throws to come away with the 12-point win.In the all-time series, KWU leads Saint Mary 33-19.THE COYOTESKansas Wesleyan enters the KCAC tournament with a 22-6 overall record and finished KCAC play 18-4 overall. KWU averages 75.8 points per game while holding opponents to 63.3. KWU shoots 44 percent from the field as a team, 34.5 percent from 3-point range and 72.3 percent from the free throw line. KWU's opponents shoot 38.3 percent from the field, 24.8 percent from 3-point range and 67.7 percent at the line. The Coyotes average 39.6 rebounds per game, outrebounding opponents by 5.6 per game.KWU has five players averaging 9.0 points per game or better on the season led by <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/0293f2fa-a8fe-4e49-a343-0d6804647d4e?elinkdata=20352">LaMyah Ricks</a> averaging 12.0 points per game. <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/6e61df14-9edf-42df-8948-a2ee4a913fd6?elinkdata=20352">Hampton Williams</a> leads the Coyotes in rebounding at 7.3 per game.KWU ranks second in the KCAC in scoring offense, and second in scoring defense. KWU leads the KCAC in defensive 3-point percentage and ranks 13th in the NAIA. Ricks ranks 18th in the KCAC in scoring average, and Williams ranks seventh in the KCAC in rebounding average.This season marks only the second time in program history KWU has won the KCAC Championship outright, the other time coming in 2019-20 under Coach <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/e05405f5-dba9-412e-abe8-e3126c2f7c49?elinkdata=20352">Ryan Showman</a>. KWU was Co-Champions in 1987-88, 2008-09, and 2010-11.Showman was named as the Lonnie Kruse KCAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year headlining KWU's All-KCAC picks this season. <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/7f0ff6da-7076-4511-9931-fbd8eabad4cf?elinkdata=20352">LaMyah Ricks</a> was named to the All-KCAC First Team, <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/68a58dbc-7aa8-49cf-8020-f0eec914e069?elinkdata=20352">Angel Lee</a> and <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/872a41ad-e79d-4bb6-ab0b-66e20dfa7115?elinkdata=20352">Hampton Williams</a> were named to the All-KCAC Third Team, and <a href="http://kwucoyotes.com/services/go.ashx/84f48094-331b-47c2-be7b-2b9185dbcc3b?elinkdata=20352">Jill Stephens</a> was named to the Honorable Mention team. Ricks also earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team.THE SPIRESSaint Mary is 13-15 overall and finished KCAC play with a 12-10 record. Saint Mary averages 70 points per game while shooting 38.7 percent from the field, 30.9 percent from 3-point range and 72 percent from the free throw line. The Spires average 39.6 rebounds per game.Alanis Delgado leads the Spires averaging 15.5 points per game. Addison Schletzbaum leads the Spires in rebounding averaging 7.6 per contest.Alanis Delgado was named to the All-KCAC Second Team and Addison Schletzbaum was named Honorable Mention. Addison Tower was named to the All-Freshman team.THE KCAC TOURNAMENTAll quarterfinal match-ups will be played Thursday night at the home site of the higher seeded team.In the other three quarterfinals No. 4 seed Bethel hosts No. 5 Friends, No. 3 Evangel hosts No. 6 Sterling, and No. 2 seed Tabor hosts No. 7 seed Bethany.On Saturday will be the semifinals with games starting at 7 p.m. The KWU vs Saint Mary winner will get the winner of the Bethel vs Friends game. The winner between Tabor vs Bethany and Evangel vs Sterling will meet in the other semifinal. Both semifinal games will be played at the higher seeded team.New this year, there will be no Park City Arena for the KCAC Championship. KCAC officials decided to make the change in the tournament and move the championship games back to the home site of the higher seeded team. The KCAC Championship will be played on Tuesday, March 4 staring at 7 p.m.The winner of the KCAC Tournament receives an automatic berth to the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship. The second automatic berth to the NAIA Championships goes to the highest remaining seed in the KCAC tournament, regardless of tournament finish, meant to protect the regular season champion, should it lose during the tournament. If the KCAC regular season champion wins the tournament, the No. 2 seed in the tournament receives the second berth, regardless of tournament finish.NATIONALS

Top Seeded Coyotes host No. 8 Saint Mary on Thursday in KCAC Quarterfinals

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Missouri woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge accusing her of concocting a brazen plot to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland mansion and property before a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-sale-lawsuit-elvis-presley-bd864f24ff76205ce23885c182a56a66">halted the mysterious foreclosure sale</a>.

During a hearing in front of a Memphis federal judge, Lisa Jeanine Findley pleaded guilty to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-sale-fraudulent-d6431df76860570e5d31526e81974f7d">charge of mail fraud</a>&nbsp;related to the scheme. She previously pleaded not guilty to the two-count indictment, which also includes a count of aggravated identity theft that will now be dropped.

When asked by the judge if Findley was admitting guilt and accepting responsibility, she said “Yes.”

Findley will be sentenced on June 19. She would have faced up to 20 years if convicted, but she is expected to receive less than that under the plea deal.

Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lisa-marie-presley-dies-9fc02552f6f31e270647897a2e4104e9">her death in January 2023</a>, prosecutors said when she was charged in August 2024. She then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities.

Findley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents, and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May 2024, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after Presley’s granddaughter sued.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-auction-lawsuit-riley-keough-4c5d2dda1c189997319d331794e8f8d0">Experts were baffled</a>&nbsp;by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents that were quickly suspected to be phony.

Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley died in August 1977, at the age of 42.

In May, a public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/riley-keough">Riley Keough</a>, Presley’s granddaughter and an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/lisa-marie-presley">Lisa Marie Presley</a>.

Keough filed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-auction-elvis-presley-359098fd64877f2e826b7309dba2bbb3">a lawsuit claiming fraud,</a>&nbsp;and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction. Naussany Investments and Private Lending — the bogus lender authorities say Findley created — said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and that Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.

Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s documents, indicated she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. The judge said the notary’s affidavit brings into question “the authenticity of the signature.”

The judge halted the foreclosure sale of the beloved Memphis tourist attraction, saying Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.

The Tennessee attorney general’s office&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-foreclosure-auction-1541d4a07db1b0a9870b0557eb073307">had been investigating</a>&nbsp;the Graceland controversy, then&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elvis-presley-graceland-foreclosure-sale-lawsuit-93a42d151462e299fee88b5a6eca9743">confirmed in June</a>&nbsp;that it handed the probe over to federal authorities.

A statement emailed to The Associated Press after the judge stopped the sale said Naussany would not proceed because a key document in the case and the loan were recorded and obtained in a different state, meaning “legal action would have to be filed in multiple states.” The statement, sent from an email address listed in court documents, did not specify the other state.

After the scheme fell apart, Findley tried to make it look like the person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief, prosecutors said. An email sent May 25 to the AP from the same email as the earlier statement said in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the U.S. and uses the internet to steal money.

In a statement, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the scheme “nonsense” and praised the work of federal authorities.

“Graceland matters so much to so many people around the world – just go to Memphis during Elvis Week and listen to all the different accents and languages of fans who make the pilgrimage,” Skrmetti said. “All of Tennessee is glad that Graceland remains safely in the possession of Elvis’s heir and that it will remain a celebrated Memphis landmark for generations to come.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740502725805.png" alt="Findley photo Greene Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Findley photo Greene Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Missouri woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge accusing her of concocting a brazen plot to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland mansion and property before a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-sale-lawsuit-elvis-presley-bd864f24ff76205ce23885c182a56a66">halted the mysterious foreclosure sale</a>.During a hearing in front of a Memphis federal judge, Lisa Jeanine Findley pleaded guilty to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-sale-fraudulent-d6431df76860570e5d31526e81974f7d">charge of mail fraud</a>&nbsp;related to the scheme. She previously pleaded not guilty to the two-count indictment, which also includes a count of aggravated identity theft that will now be dropped.When asked by the judge if Findley was admitting guilt and accepting responsibility, she said “Yes.”Findley will be sentenced on June 19. She would have faced up to 20 years if convicted, but she is expected to receive less than that under the plea deal.Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lisa-marie-presley-dies-9fc02552f6f31e270647897a2e4104e9">her death in January 2023</a>, prosecutors said when she was charged in August 2024. She then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities.Findley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents, and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May 2024, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after Presley’s granddaughter sued.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-auction-lawsuit-riley-keough-4c5d2dda1c189997319d331794e8f8d0">Experts were baffled</a>&nbsp;by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents that were quickly suspected to be phony.Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley died in August 1977, at the age of 42.In May, a public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/riley-keough">Riley Keough</a>, Presley’s granddaughter and an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/lisa-marie-presley">Lisa Marie Presley</a>.Keough filed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-auction-elvis-presley-359098fd64877f2e826b7309dba2bbb3">a lawsuit claiming fraud,</a>&nbsp;and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction. Naussany Investments and Private Lending — the bogus lender authorities say Findley created — said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and that Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s documents, indicated she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. The judge said the notary’s affidavit brings into question “the authenticity of the signature.”The judge halted the foreclosure sale of the beloved Memphis tourist attraction, saying Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.The Tennessee attorney general’s office&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-foreclosure-auction-1541d4a07db1b0a9870b0557eb073307">had been investigating</a>&nbsp;the Graceland controversy, then&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elvis-presley-graceland-foreclosure-sale-lawsuit-93a42d151462e299fee88b5a6eca9743">confirmed in June</a>&nbsp;that it handed the probe over to federal authorities.A statement emailed to The Associated Press after the judge stopped the sale said Naussany would not proceed because a key document in the case and the loan were recorded and obtained in a different state, meaning “legal action would have to be filed in multiple states.” The statement, sent from an email address listed in court documents, did not specify the other state.After the scheme fell apart, Findley tried to make it look like the person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief, prosecutors said. An email sent May 25 to the AP from the same email as the earlier statement said in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the U.S. and uses the internet to steal money.In a statement, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the scheme “nonsense” and praised the work of federal authorities.“Graceland matters so much to so many people around the world – just go to Memphis during Elvis Week and listen to all the different accents and languages of fans who make the pilgrimage,” Skrmetti said. “All of Tennessee is glad that Graceland remains safely in the possession of Elvis’s heir and that it will remain a celebrated Memphis landmark for generations to come.”___

Woman enters plea to federal charge in plot to sell Graceland

NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/roberta-flack">Roberta Flack,</a>&nbsp;the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.

She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/roberta-flack-als-diagnosis-403caf46fc277d8fddeb438a1f57979d">she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease,</a>&nbsp;and could no longer sing,

Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack’s graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year.

“The record label wanted to have it re-recorded with a faster tempo, but he said he wanted it exactly as it was,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/music-aa6118fdbf324b23aec794c066a75e15">Flack told The Associated Press</a>&nbsp;in 2018. “With the song as a theme song for his movie, it gained a lot of popularity and then took off.”

In 1973, she matched both achievements with “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.

She was a classically trained pianist discovered in the late 1960s by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/les-mccann-died-88-compared-to-what-587892db9a20cc4331c8c51f636e115d">jazz musician Les McCann,</a>&nbsp;who later wrote that “her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.” Versatile enough to summon the up-tempo gospel passion of Aretha Franklin, Flack often favored a more reflective and measured approach.

For Flack’s many admirers, she was a sophisticated and bold new presence in the music world and in the social and civil rights movements of the time, her friends including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jesse-jackson">Rev. Jesse Jackson</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/angela-davis">Angela Davis,</a>&nbsp;whom Flack visited in prison while Davis faced charges — for which she was acquitted — for murder and kidnapping. Flack sang at the funeral of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jackie-robinson">Jackie Robinson,</a>&nbsp;major league baseball’s first Black player, and was among the many guest performers on the feminist children’s entertainment project&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/parenting-celebrity-relationships-131d7b4b0bb04f258b57d218d8d9f6b2">created by Marlo Thomas,</a>&nbsp;“Free to Be ... You and Me.”

Roberta Cleopatra Flack, the daughter of musicians, was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. A gospel fan as a child, she was so talented a piano player that at age 15 she received a full scholarship to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-democracy-presidency-howard-university-d383801895d8d107a9aa12af5b941821">Howard, the historically Black university.</a>

Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included the cozy “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, “Where Is the Love” and ”The Closer I Get to You” — a partnership that ended in tragedy. In 1979, she and Hathaway were working on an album of duets when he suffered a breakdown during recording and later that night fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan.

“We were deeply connected creatively,” Flack told Vibe in 2022, upon the 50th anniversary of the million-selling “Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway” album. “He could play anything, sing anything. Our musical synergy was unlike (anything) I’d had before or since.”

She never matched her first run of success, although she did have a hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet “Set the Night to Music.” In the mid-90s, Flack received new attention&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pras-michel-fugees-concert-d2f31e013e693b516169bd4c7bcdcdab">after the Fugees recorded</a>&nbsp;a Grammy-winning cover of “Killing Me Softly,” which she eventually performed on stage with the hip-hop group.

Overall,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ba4d62572ce84d4f99c05585db7dd263">she won five Grammys</a>&nbsp;(three for “Killing Me Softly”), was nominated eight other times and was given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020, with John Legend and Ariana Grande among those praising her.

“I love that connection to other artists because we understand music, we live music, it’s our language,” Flack told songwriteruniverse.com in 2020. “Through music we understand what we are thinking and feeling. No matter what challenge life presents, I am at home with my piano, on a stage, with my band, in the studio, listening to music. I can find my way when I hear music.”

In 2022, Beyoncé placed Flack, Franklin and Diana Ross among others in a special pantheon of heroines name-checked in the Grammy-nominated “Queens Remix” of “Break My Soul.”

Flack was briefly married to Stephen Novosel, an interracial relationship that led to tension with each of their families, and earlier had a son, the singer and keyboardist Bernard Wright. For years, she lived in Manhattan’s Dakota apartment building, on the same floor as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who became a close friend and provided liner notes for a Flack album of Beatles covers, “Let It Be Roberta.” She also devoted extensive time to the Roberta Flack School of Music, based in New York and attended mostly by students between ages 6 to 14.

Flack had taught music in D.C.-area junior high schools for several years in her 20s, while performing after hours in clubs. She sometimes backed other singers, but her own shows at Washington’s renowned Mr. Henry’s attracted such celebrity patrons as Burt Bacharach, Ramsey Lewis and Johnny Mathis. The club’s owner, Henry Yaffe, converted an apartment directly above into a private studio, the Roberta Flack Room.

“I wanted to be successful, a serious all-round musician,” she told The Telegraph in 2015. “I listened to a lot of Aretha, the Drifters, trying to do some of that myself, playing, teaching.”

Flack was signed to Atlantic Records and her debut album, “First Take,” a blend of gospel, soul, flamenco and jazz, came out in 1969. One track was a love song by the English folk artist Ewan MacColl: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” written in 1957 for his future wife, singer Peggy Seeger. Flack not only knew of the ballad, but used it while working with a glee club during her years as an educator.

“I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, D.C. It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education. I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. (Flack starts singing a Supremes hit) ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!” she told the Tampa Bay Times in 2012.

“You have to do all sorts of things when you’re dealing with kids in the inner-city,” she said. “I knew they’d like the part where (‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’) goes ‘The first time ever I kissed your mouth.’ Ooh, ‘Kissed your mouth!’ Once the kids got past the giggles, we were good.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740411515381.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/roberta-flack">Roberta Flack,</a>&nbsp;the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/roberta-flack-als-diagnosis-403caf46fc277d8fddeb438a1f57979d">she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease,</a>&nbsp;and could no longer sing,Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack’s graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year.“The record label wanted to have it re-recorded with a faster tempo, but he said he wanted it exactly as it was,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/music-aa6118fdbf324b23aec794c066a75e15">Flack told The Associated Press</a>&nbsp;in 2018. “With the song as a theme song for his movie, it gained a lot of popularity and then took off.”In 1973, she matched both achievements with “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.She was a classically trained pianist discovered in the late 1960s by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/les-mccann-died-88-compared-to-what-587892db9a20cc4331c8c51f636e115d">jazz musician Les McCann,</a>&nbsp;who later wrote that “her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.” Versatile enough to summon the up-tempo gospel passion of Aretha Franklin, Flack often favored a more reflective and measured approach.For Flack’s many admirers, she was a sophisticated and bold new presence in the music world and in the social and civil rights movements of the time, her friends including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jesse-jackson">Rev. Jesse Jackson</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/angela-davis">Angela Davis,</a>&nbsp;whom Flack visited in prison while Davis faced charges — for which she was acquitted — for murder and kidnapping. Flack sang at the funeral of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jackie-robinson">Jackie Robinson,</a>&nbsp;major league baseball’s first Black player, and was among the many guest performers on the feminist children’s entertainment project&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/parenting-celebrity-relationships-131d7b4b0bb04f258b57d218d8d9f6b2">created by Marlo Thomas,</a>&nbsp;“Free to Be ... You and Me.”Roberta Cleopatra Flack, the daughter of musicians, was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and raised in Arlington, Virginia. A gospel fan as a child, she was so talented a piano player that at age 15 she received a full scholarship to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-democracy-presidency-howard-university-d383801895d8d107a9aa12af5b941821">Howard, the historically Black university.</a>Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included the cozy “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, “Where Is the Love” and ”The Closer I Get to You” — a partnership that ended in tragedy. In 1979, she and Hathaway were working on an album of duets when he suffered a breakdown during recording and later that night fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan.“We were deeply connected creatively,” Flack told Vibe in 2022, upon the 50th anniversary of the million-selling “Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway” album. “He could play anything, sing anything. Our musical synergy was unlike (anything) I’d had before or since.”She never matched her first run of success, although she did have a hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet “Set the Night to Music.” In the mid-90s, Flack received new attention&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pras-michel-fugees-concert-d2f31e013e693b516169bd4c7bcdcdab">after the Fugees recorded</a>&nbsp;a Grammy-winning cover of “Killing Me Softly,” which she eventually performed on stage with the hip-hop group.Overall,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ba4d62572ce84d4f99c05585db7dd263">she won five Grammys</a>&nbsp;(three for “Killing Me Softly”), was nominated eight other times and was given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020, with John Legend and Ariana Grande among those praising her.“I love that connection to other artists because we understand music, we live music, it’s our language,” Flack told songwriteruniverse.com in 2020. “Through music we understand what we are thinking and feeling. No matter what challenge life presents, I am at home with my piano, on a stage, with my band, in the studio, listening to music. I can find my way when I hear music.”In 2022, Beyoncé placed Flack, Franklin and Diana Ross among others in a special pantheon of heroines name-checked in the Grammy-nominated “Queens Remix” of “Break My Soul.”Flack was briefly married to Stephen Novosel, an interracial relationship that led to tension with each of their families, and earlier had a son, the singer and keyboardist Bernard Wright. For years, she lived in Manhattan’s Dakota apartment building, on the same floor as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who became a close friend and provided liner notes for a Flack album of Beatles covers, “Let It Be Roberta.” She also devoted extensive time to the Roberta Flack School of Music, based in New York and attended mostly by students between ages 6 to 14.Flack had taught music in D.C.-area junior high schools for several years in her 20s, while performing after hours in clubs. She sometimes backed other singers, but her own shows at Washington’s renowned Mr. Henry’s attracted such celebrity patrons as Burt Bacharach, Ramsey Lewis and Johnny Mathis. The club’s owner, Henry Yaffe, converted an apartment directly above into a private studio, the Roberta Flack Room.“I wanted to be successful, a serious all-round musician,” she told The Telegraph in 2015. “I listened to a lot of Aretha, the Drifters, trying to do some of that myself, playing, teaching.”Flack was signed to Atlantic Records and her debut album, “First Take,” a blend of gospel, soul, flamenco and jazz, came out in 1969. One track was a love song by the English folk artist Ewan MacColl: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” written in 1957 for his future wife, singer Peggy Seeger. Flack not only knew of the ballad, but used it while working with a glee club during her years as an educator.“I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, D.C. It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education. I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. (Flack starts singing a Supremes hit) ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!” she told the Tampa Bay Times in 2012.“You have to do all sorts of things when you’re dealing with kids in the inner-city,” she said. “I knew they’d like the part where (‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’) goes ‘The first time ever I kissed your mouth.’ Ooh, ‘Kissed your mouth!’ Once the kids got past the giggles, we were good.”

Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — An intense confrontation between a Republican and Democrat on the Kansas House floor Thursday during a gun debate forced the chamber into a two-hour recess as leadership worked to deescalate tensions.

Democrats accused&nbsp;Rep. Nick Hoheisel, a Wichita Republican, of trying to start a fight with Rep. Ford Carr, a Wichita Democrat, by launching obscenities at Carr. The confrontation took place at Carr’s desk on the House floor.

The incident happened during debate over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2104/" target="_blank">House Bill 2104,</a>&nbsp;which would require school districts to implement an NRA program known as Eddie Eagle in public elementary schools, starting in kindergarten, if the schools want to teach gun safety. It was among dozens of bills the House has debated this week ahead of a deadline to advance legislation.

Rep. Kirk Haskins, a Topeka Democrat, interrupted legislators debating the NRA curriculum bill and called for a point of order, citing “a need for decorum.” Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, then came to the front of the House chamber and asked for Hoheisel to be admonished.

“While I did not observe everything that occurred, I heard exactly what happened,” Carmichael said. “The member strolled through the Democratic seats using profanity, and in my view, from what I heard, was attempting to incite a fight. And I ask that the member be admonished never to do that again.”

In an interview, Carmichael said Hoheisel thumped a finger on Carr’s desk and repeatedly said, “That’s bulls***.”

After House Republican leadership recessed the House to break the tension, House Democrats banned reporters from a secret meeting at the Capitol to discuss the situation. Kansas Reflector obtained an audio recording of that meeting, in which members raise concerns about Hoheisel’s behavior and whether he was carrying a gun.

Hoheisel declined to comment for this story but disputed claims made by Democrats.

“I’m not going to dignify any of those false and outlandish allegations with a response,” Hoheisel said in a text message.

Carr didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment, but in the secret meeting, he joked about his willingness to get in a fight. Last month, he shoved another Democratic legislator to the ground during a bar fracas with a Wichita councilman. Democrats laughed at the reference during their secret meeting.

“I know that side of the aisle, and they constantly vote for gun rights,” Carr said. “I also know that some of them carry guns. I have one in my office. There’s a strong possibility that that gun will be on my person unless something is done, right?”

Carr continued: “He got up, he came over to me, and he made attacks. I can’t honestly see how someone of his stature would feel comfortable making those kind of attacks at me” — he paused for laughter — “unless, of course, he feels like he has some sort of an equalizer. So at this point, I feel like I need to equal and level the playing field.”

Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat who runs House Democratic caucus meetings, said in the caucus meeting: “I understand what you’re saying along those lines, but what we’re asking is that we deescalate what happened.”

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, told his caucus: “Everyone needs to breathe.”

“Him coming up to you on the floor and saying that s*** is bull****, but we can’t stoop to the low level of Republicans,” Woodard said during the closed meeting of Democrats.

Several Democrats, including Rep. Heather Meyer, an Overland Park Democrat, said they didn’t feel safe on the House floor.

Meyer asked her fellow Democrats “to remember that some of us have extensive, long-term trauma from gun violence, and we need to be chill.”

“This kind of talk makes me nervous, makes me not want to go back on the floor today, makes me want to go the f*** home,” Meyer said. “I am done with gun violence, and I just need you guys to remember that. Because I’m sitting here listening to this conversation thinking if I even want to be here, because it’s f***ing scary, and I am tired of being put in the line of fire.”

When the House reconvened, with a larger than usual Capitol Police presence on the floor, Republican leadership canceled the scheduled votes on the Eddie Eagle bill, as well as a proposed constitutional amendment that would assert a God-given right to own guns, ammunition and firearm accessories.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, and Woodard issued a joint statement on the “events that transpired on the House floor,” but didn’t respond to a request to explain what happened.

“The House of Representatives remains focused on the 2025 legislative session and completing the work we have been sent here to do,” they said in the joint statement. “The legislative session is an immense undertaking that requires a unified effort. We appreciate the continued dedication of our House members to the people of Kansas.”

Carmichael, who said he declined to participate in the meeting of House Democrats because it wasn’t open to the press, said Republican leadership did the right thing in the moment by shutting down debate and skipping over the gun bills.

“In the longer term,” Carmichael said, “leadership is going to have to have long conversations with some of their members.”

“I do not feel safe on the floor under these circumstances,” Carmichael added. “This situation with immature hotheads with guns on the floor needs to end.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740238444068.png" alt=" Rep. Nick Hoheisel, R-Wichita, checks the voting board during an April 27, 2023, session of the House. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Rep. Nick Hoheisel, R-Wichita, checks the voting board during an April 27, 2023, session of the House. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — An intense confrontation between a Republican and Democrat on the Kansas House floor Thursday during a gun debate forced the chamber into a two-hour recess as leadership worked to deescalate tensions.Democrats accused&nbsp;Rep. Nick Hoheisel, a Wichita Republican, of trying to start a fight with Rep. Ford Carr, a Wichita Democrat, by launching obscenities at Carr. The confrontation took place at Carr’s desk on the House floor.The incident happened during debate over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2104/" target="_blank">House Bill 2104,</a>&nbsp;which would require school districts to implement an NRA program known as Eddie Eagle in public elementary schools, starting in kindergarten, if the schools want to teach gun safety. It was among dozens of bills the House has debated this week ahead of a deadline to advance legislation.Rep. Kirk Haskins, a Topeka Democrat, interrupted legislators debating the NRA curriculum bill and called for a point of order, citing “a need for decorum.” Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, then came to the front of the House chamber and asked for Hoheisel to be admonished.“While I did not observe everything that occurred, I heard exactly what happened,” Carmichael said. “The member strolled through the Democratic seats using profanity, and in my view, from what I heard, was attempting to incite a fight. And I ask that the member be admonished never to do that again.”In an interview, Carmichael said Hoheisel thumped a finger on Carr’s desk and repeatedly said, “That’s bulls***.”After House Republican leadership recessed the House to break the tension, House Democrats banned reporters from a secret meeting at the Capitol to discuss the situation. Kansas Reflector obtained an audio recording of that meeting, in which members raise concerns about Hoheisel’s behavior and whether he was carrying a gun.Hoheisel declined to comment for this story but disputed claims made by Democrats.“I’m not going to dignify any of those false and outlandish allegations with a response,” Hoheisel said in a text message.Carr didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment, but in the secret meeting, he joked about his willingness to get in a fight. Last month, he shoved another Democratic legislator to the ground during a bar fracas with a Wichita councilman. Democrats laughed at the reference during their secret meeting.“I know that side of the aisle, and they constantly vote for gun rights,” Carr said. “I also know that some of them carry guns. I have one in my office. There’s a strong possibility that that gun will be on my person unless something is done, right?”Carr continued: “He got up, he came over to me, and he made attacks. I can’t honestly see how someone of his stature would feel comfortable making those kind of attacks at me” — he paused for laughter — “unless, of course, he feels like he has some sort of an equalizer. So at this point, I feel like I need to equal and level the playing field.”Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Lawrence Democrat who runs House Democratic caucus meetings, said in the caucus meeting: “I understand what you’re saying along those lines, but what we’re asking is that we deescalate what happened.”House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, told his caucus: “Everyone needs to breathe.”“Him coming up to you on the floor and saying that s*** is bull****, but we can’t stoop to the low level of Republicans,” Woodard said during the closed meeting of Democrats.Several Democrats, including Rep. Heather Meyer, an Overland Park Democrat, said they didn’t feel safe on the House floor.Meyer asked her fellow Democrats “to remember that some of us have extensive, long-term trauma from gun violence, and we need to be chill.”“This kind of talk makes me nervous, makes me not want to go back on the floor today, makes me want to go the f*** home,” Meyer said. “I am done with gun violence, and I just need you guys to remember that. Because I’m sitting here listening to this conversation thinking if I even want to be here, because it’s f***ing scary, and I am tired of being put in the line of fire.”When the House reconvened, with a larger than usual Capitol Police presence on the floor, Republican leadership canceled the scheduled votes on the Eddie Eagle bill, as well as a proposed constitutional amendment that would assert a God-given right to own guns, ammunition and firearm accessories.House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, and Woodard issued a joint statement on the “events that transpired on the House floor,” but didn’t respond to a request to explain what happened.“The House of Representatives remains focused on the 2025 legislative session and completing the work we have been sent here to do,” they said in the joint statement. “The legislative session is an immense undertaking that requires a unified effort. We appreciate the continued dedication of our House members to the people of Kansas.”Carmichael, who said he declined to participate in the meeting of House Democrats because it wasn’t open to the press, said Republican leadership did the right thing in the moment by shutting down debate and skipping over the gun bills.“In the longer term,” Carmichael said, “leadership is going to have to have long conversations with some of their members.”“I do not feel safe on the floor under these circumstances,” Carmichael added. “This situation with immature hotheads with guns on the floor needs to end.”

‘Everyone needs to breathe’: Intense confrontation on Kansas House floor forces two-hour recess

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/mitch-mcconnell">Sen. Mitch McConnell</a>&nbsp;announced on Thursday that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.

McConnell, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-montana-united-states-senate-new-york-city-mitch-mcconnell-41f4326218e7c2d8439ca02d09c6683b">longest-serving Senate party leader</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he addressed colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.

“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said, as aides lined the back chamber and several senators listened from seats. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-presidential-election-trump-harris-ed91f084599d0f25b00f44bb71620528">a conservative Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and steered the Senate through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2d9e099660064f2b8a8fc2237b4e7e4e">tax cuts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-trial-0d0916330d20cc139c64f73af5ef4647">presidential impeachment trials</a>&nbsp;and fierce political fights.

McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. The Kentuckian has dealt with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-senate-fall-republican-8d58004d3f14c1995d83c11319d77d72">a series of medical episodes</a>&nbsp;in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-gop-leader-mcconnell-health-freeze-up-c5b43745251daa0bb63636ceff4edce2">his face briefly froze</a>&nbsp;while he was speaking.

The senator delivered his speech in a chamber the famously taciturn McConnell revered as a young intern long before joining its back benches as a freshman lawmaker in the mid-1980s. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-senate-republican-leader-stepping-down-ba478d570a4561aa7baf91a204d7e366">his leadership post</a>&nbsp;after the November 2024 election.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-leader-thune-cornyn-scott-mcconnell-trump-c3c1c451a420729136ae641a14d9d5d6">South Dakota Sen. John Thune</a>, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader.

McConnell's looming departure reflects the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. He's seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/trump-slams-mcconnell-for-rfk-jr-vote-calling-him-bitter-and-questioning-his-childhood-polio-bcf92bb6f7a54c71b81ba861d4180575">criticizing him in caustic terms</a>.

In Kentucky, McConnell's departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party for winning statewide office in Republican territory, has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office.

McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan’s brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.

McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russia’s invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kellogg-zelenskyy-437f4c8fa4531059007dd3ab00c23458">Volodymyr Zelenskyy</a>. The senator plans to make it clear Thursday that national defense remains at the forefront of his agenda.

“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in his prepared remarks. "But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to."

McConnell and Trump were partners during Trump's first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for “disgraceful” acts in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters</a>. A momentary thaw in 2024 when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-endorsement-donald-trump-super-tuesday-422a2ec6f19917b46804b4cf6ee40371">McConnell endorsed Trump</a>&nbsp;didn't last.

Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-mitch-mcconnell-polio-rfk-vaccines-06a03dd5ca2024317f01e1c4f5171678">Trump referred to McConnell</a>&nbsp;as a "very bitter guy” after McConnell, who battled polio as a child, opposed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as the nation’s top health official. McConnell referred to Trump as a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist” in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-trump-biography-election-0a861001d95287e689336504abc2281f">a biography of the senator</a>&nbsp;by The Associated Press' deputy Washington bureau chief, Michael Tackett.

Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/6a409d3266be46dcaa2f1267fd947a12">a tax overhaul</a>&nbsp;largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers. They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right.

McConnell set a new precedent for hardball partisan tactics in 2016 by refusing to even give a hearing to Democratic President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-6fe101b4bef54f989d939bccc81873fc">Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland</a>&nbsp;to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Putting the brakes on the Senate's “advise and consent” role for judicial nominees, McConnell said the vacancy should be filled by the next president so voters could have their say.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f5a557876d5546cca4ebd53b4860e2ed">Trump filled the vacancy</a>&nbsp;once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garland's nomination his “most consequential” achievement.

Later, when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-amy-coney-barrett-82a02a618343c98b80ca2b6bf9eafe07">rushed Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation</a>&nbsp;through the Senate, waving off allegations of hypocrisy.

McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.

In the second impeachment, weeks after the deadly Capitol attack by a mob hoping to overturn Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, McConnell joined all but seven Republicans in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">voting to acquit</a>. McConnell said he believed Trump couldn’t be convicted because he’d already left office, but the senator also condemned Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection.

McConnell over the years swung back and forth from majority to minority leader, depending on which party held power. He defended President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and failed to block Obama’s health care overhaul.

McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his party's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.

He is married to Elaine Chao, and they have long been a power couple in Washington. In his prepared remarks Thursday, the senator referred to her as his “ultimate teammate and confidante.” Chao was labor secretary for Bush and transportation secretary during Trump's first term, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-security-michael-pence-01e30bccef96ccd73fe642f8f96f8519">she resigned</a>&nbsp;after the Capitol insurrection, saying it had “deeply troubled” her.

McConnell's parting words reflected his devotion to the Senate and his disdain for his detractors.

“The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence," he said. "And, to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740070424167.png" alt="Mitch McConnell spoke about his decision on the Senate Floor Thursday morning just moments after voting to advance the nomination of Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Mitch McConnell spoke about his decision on the Senate Floor Thursday morning just moments after voting to advance the nomination of Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/mitch-mcconnell">Sen. Mitch McConnell</a>&nbsp;announced on Thursday that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Sen. Mitch McConnell (<a href="https://twitter.com/SenMcConnell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenMcConnell</a>): &quot;Seven times my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate...Representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/b33cR7I36e">pic.twitter.com/b33cR7I36e</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1892621015370399750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>McConnell, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-montana-united-states-senate-new-york-city-mitch-mcconnell-41f4326218e7c2d8439ca02d09c6683b">longest-serving Senate party leader</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he addressed colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said, as aides lined the back chamber and several senators listened from seats. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-presidential-election-trump-harris-ed91f084599d0f25b00f44bb71620528">a conservative Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and steered the Senate through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2d9e099660064f2b8a8fc2237b4e7e4e">tax cuts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-trial-0d0916330d20cc139c64f73af5ef4647">presidential impeachment trials</a>&nbsp;and fierce political fights.McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. The Kentuckian has dealt with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-senate-fall-republican-8d58004d3f14c1995d83c11319d77d72">a series of medical episodes</a>&nbsp;in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-gop-leader-mcconnell-health-freeze-up-c5b43745251daa0bb63636ceff4edce2">his face briefly froze</a>&nbsp;while he was speaking.The senator delivered his speech in a chamber the famously taciturn McConnell revered as a young intern long before joining its back benches as a freshman lawmaker in the mid-1980s. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-senate-republican-leader-stepping-down-ba478d570a4561aa7baf91a204d7e366">his leadership post</a>&nbsp;after the November 2024 election.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-leader-thune-cornyn-scott-mcconnell-trump-c3c1c451a420729136ae641a14d9d5d6">South Dakota Sen. John Thune</a>, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader.McConnell's looming departure reflects the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. He's seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/trump-slams-mcconnell-for-rfk-jr-vote-calling-him-bitter-and-questioning-his-childhood-polio-bcf92bb6f7a54c71b81ba861d4180575">criticizing him in caustic terms</a>.In Kentucky, McConnell's departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party for winning statewide office in Republican territory, has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office.McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan’s brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russia’s invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kellogg-zelenskyy-437f4c8fa4531059007dd3ab00c23458">Volodymyr Zelenskyy</a>. The senator plans to make it clear Thursday that national defense remains at the forefront of his agenda.“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in his prepared remarks. "But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to."McConnell and Trump were partners during Trump's first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for “disgraceful” acts in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters</a>. A momentary thaw in 2024 when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-endorsement-donald-trump-super-tuesday-422a2ec6f19917b46804b4cf6ee40371">McConnell endorsed Trump</a>&nbsp;didn't last.Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-mitch-mcconnell-polio-rfk-vaccines-06a03dd5ca2024317f01e1c4f5171678">Trump referred to McConnell</a>&nbsp;as a "very bitter guy” after McConnell, who battled polio as a child, opposed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as the nation’s top health official. McConnell referred to Trump as a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist” in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-trump-biography-election-0a861001d95287e689336504abc2281f">a biography of the senator</a>&nbsp;by The Associated Press' deputy Washington bureau chief, Michael Tackett.Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/6a409d3266be46dcaa2f1267fd947a12">a tax overhaul</a>&nbsp;largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers. They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right.McConnell set a new precedent for hardball partisan tactics in 2016 by refusing to even give a hearing to Democratic President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-6fe101b4bef54f989d939bccc81873fc">Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland</a>&nbsp;to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Putting the brakes on the Senate's “advise and consent” role for judicial nominees, McConnell said the vacancy should be filled by the next president so voters could have their say.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f5a557876d5546cca4ebd53b4860e2ed">Trump filled the vacancy</a>&nbsp;once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garland's nomination his “most consequential” achievement.Later, when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-amy-coney-barrett-82a02a618343c98b80ca2b6bf9eafe07">rushed Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation</a>&nbsp;through the Senate, waving off allegations of hypocrisy.McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.In the second impeachment, weeks after the deadly Capitol attack by a mob hoping to overturn Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, McConnell joined all but seven Republicans in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">voting to acquit</a>. McConnell said he believed Trump couldn’t be convicted because he’d already left office, but the senator also condemned Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection.McConnell over the years swung back and forth from majority to minority leader, depending on which party held power. He defended President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and failed to block Obama’s health care overhaul.McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his party's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.He is married to Elaine Chao, and they have long been a power couple in Washington. In his prepared remarks Thursday, the senator referred to her as his “ultimate teammate and confidante.” Chao was labor secretary for Bush and transportation secretary during Trump's first term, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-security-michael-pence-01e30bccef96ccd73fe642f8f96f8519">she resigned</a>&nbsp;after the Capitol insurrection, saying it had “deeply troubled” her.McConnell's parting words reflected his devotion to the Senate and his disdain for his detractors.“The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence," he said. "And, to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”___Schreiner reported from Louisville, Ky.

🎥Mitch McConnell, longest-serving Senate leader, won't seek reelection

WASHINGTON (AP) — The crew of the Army helicopter that collided in midair with an American Airlines jet near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, and also may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers to move behind the plane, investigators said Friday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters that the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew without understanding how it should shift position just before the Jan. 29 crash, in which all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fatal-washington-flight-passengers-ca062f03b729c130058d4f74393dfa31" target="_blank">67 aboard</a>&nbsp;the two aircraft were killed,

“That transmission was interrupted -– it was stepped on,” she said, leaving them unable to hear the words “pass behind the” because the helicopter’s microphone key was pressed at the same moment.

(click here to listen to the full news conference)

Homendy said the helicopter was on a “check” flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using night vision goggles. Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.

It will take more than a year to get the final NTSB report on the collision, and Homendy warned reporters that many issues were still being probed.

“We’re only a couple weeks out,” from the crash, she said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

The collision was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-crashes-history-washington-ee55776ea0c5f9e322fc77ea1ea452d1" target="_blank">deadliest plane crash in the U.S.</a>&nbsp;since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.

The collision likely occurred at an altitude of about 325 feet, investigators have said, which would put the Black Hawk above its 200-foot limit for that location.

Cockpit conversations a few minutes before the crash indicated conflicting altitude data, Homendy said, with the helicopter’s pilot calling out that they were then at 300 feet, but the instructor pilot saying it was 400 feet, Homendy said.

“We are looking at the possibility there may be bad data,” she said.

That generation of Black Hawks typically has two types of altimeters – one relying on barometric pressure and the other on radio frequency signals bounced off the ground. Helicopter pilots typically rely on barometric readings while flying, but the helicopter’s black box captures its radio altitude.

The radio altitude at the time of the impact put the Black Hawk at 278 feet, Homendy said.

“But I want to caution, that does not mean that’s what the Black Hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeters in the cockpit,” she said.

The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies aroung the nation’s capital.

The Army identified the crew as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-crash-helicopter-airliner-army-pilot-50b3e82d8ec3713cc4ae1ac3a327104c" target="_blank">Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach</a>&nbsp;of Durham, North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland. O’Hara was the crew chief and Eaves and Lobach were pilots.

Lobach’s friends and fellow soldiers called her deeply meticulous, “brilliant and fearless.”

The American Airlines jet, which was flying from Wichita, Kansas, and preparing to land at the time of the crash, was piloted by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-kansas-dc-american-airlines-army-4fb9cd89ef9023fa848fc2331b24ee8e" target="_blank">34-year-old Jonathan Campos,</a>&nbsp;whose relatives said had dreamed of flying since he was 3.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fatal-washington-flight-passengers-ca062f03b729c130058d4f74393dfa31">The jet’s passengers</a>&nbsp;ranged from a group of hunters to students and parents from northern Virginia schools to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-391a4c7bd0e617a08d9532a8faab206b" target="_blank">members of the Skating Club of Boston</a>. They were returning from a development camp for elite junior skaters that followed the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-figure-skating-championships-winter-olympics-18cdb192224d27ec76c3abaca862ab4a" target="_blank">2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships</a>&nbsp;in Wichita.

Almost immediately after the crash, President Donald Trump publicly faulted the helicopter for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-crash-325edc6c0c2439dd6c1e73a81e382c0e" target="_blank">flying too high</a>. He also blamed federal diversity and inclusion efforts, particularly regarding air traffic controllers. When&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-washington-dc-trump-dei-claims-3ac5486ec594d81e919e8ebbd9733869">pressed</a>&nbsp;by reporters, the president could not back up those claims. A few days later, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-plane-crash-air-traffic-control-ab195790634af66534a45cdec2d80aa8" target="_blank">placed the blame</a>&nbsp;on what he called an “obsolete” air traffic control system.

Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739539274693.jpeg" alt="NTSB investigators document the wreckage of the involved in the mid-air collision near DCA All major pieces of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) RJ Aviation (Bombardier) CRJ700 and the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk involved in the Jan. 29 mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport have now been recovered to a secure airport facility for further examination and documentation." />
 <figcaption>NTSB investigators document the wreckage of the involved in the mid-air collision near DCA All major pieces of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) RJ Aviation (Bombardier) CRJ700 and the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk involved in the Jan. 29 mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport have now been recovered to a secure airport facility for further examination and documentation.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The crew of the Army helicopter that collided in midair with an American Airlines jet near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, and also may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers to move behind the plane, investigators said Friday.National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters that the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew without understanding how it should shift position just before the Jan. 29 crash, in which all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fatal-washington-flight-passengers-ca062f03b729c130058d4f74393dfa31" target="_blank">67 aboard</a>&nbsp;the two aircraft were killed,<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NTSB Chair <a href="https://twitter.com/JenniferHomendy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JenniferHomendy</a>: &quot;17 seconds before impact, a radio transmission from the tower...directing the Blackhawk to pass behind...the portion of the transmission that stated &#39;pass behind the&#39; may not have been received by the Blackhawk crew.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/jq8QnqBCoc">pic.twitter.com/jq8QnqBCoc</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1890487986220916878?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“That transmission was interrupted -– it was stepped on,” she said, leaving them unable to hear the words “pass behind the” because the helicopter’s microphone key was pressed at the same moment.(click here to listen to the full news conference)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rbJVFLPcbGo?si=N_zKrgwsn6ZYEZE9&amp;start=69" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739560505556.png" alt="Helicopter routes map - NTSB" />
 <figcaption>Helicopter routes map - NTSB</figcaption>
 </figure>Homendy said the helicopter was on a “check” flight that night where the pilot was undergoing an annual test and a test on using night vision goggles. Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739539122711.png" alt="The NTSB recovers the debris of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk involved in a mid-air collision near DCA in Arlington, VA." />
 <figcaption>The NTSB recovers the debris of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk involved in a mid-air collision near DCA in Arlington, VA.</figcaption>
 </figure>It will take more than a year to get the final NTSB report on the collision, and Homendy warned reporters that many issues were still being probed.“We’re only a couple weeks out,” from the crash, she said. “We have a lot of work to do.”The collision was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-crashes-history-washington-ee55776ea0c5f9e322fc77ea1ea452d1" target="_blank">deadliest plane crash in the U.S.</a>&nbsp;since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.The collision likely occurred at an altitude of about 325 feet, investigators have said, which would put the Black Hawk above its 200-foot limit for that location.Cockpit conversations a few minutes before the crash indicated conflicting altitude data, Homendy said, with the helicopter’s pilot calling out that they were then at 300 feet, but the instructor pilot saying it was 400 feet, Homendy said.“We are looking at the possibility there may be bad data,” she said.That generation of Black Hawks typically has two types of altimeters – one relying on barometric pressure and the other on radio frequency signals bounced off the ground. Helicopter pilots typically rely on barometric readings while flying, but the helicopter’s black box captures its radio altitude.The radio altitude at the time of the impact put the Black Hawk at 278 feet, Homendy said.“But I want to caution, that does not mean that’s what the Black Hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeters in the cockpit,” she said.<h2>The victims</h2>The Army has said the Black Hawk crew was highly experienced, and accustomed to the crowded skies aroung the nation’s capital.The Army identified the crew as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-crash-helicopter-airliner-army-pilot-50b3e82d8ec3713cc4ae1ac3a327104c" target="_blank">Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach</a>&nbsp;of Durham, North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland. O’Hara was the crew chief and Eaves and Lobach were pilots.Lobach’s friends and fellow soldiers called her deeply meticulous, “brilliant and fearless.”The American Airlines jet, which was flying from Wichita, Kansas, and preparing to land at the time of the crash, was piloted by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-kansas-dc-american-airlines-army-4fb9cd89ef9023fa848fc2331b24ee8e" target="_blank">34-year-old Jonathan Campos,</a>&nbsp;whose relatives said had dreamed of flying since he was 3.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fatal-washington-flight-passengers-ca062f03b729c130058d4f74393dfa31">The jet’s passengers</a>&nbsp;ranged from a group of hunters to students and parents from northern Virginia schools to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-391a4c7bd0e617a08d9532a8faab206b" target="_blank">members of the Skating Club of Boston</a>. They were returning from a development camp for elite junior skaters that followed the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-figure-skating-championships-winter-olympics-18cdb192224d27ec76c3abaca862ab4a" target="_blank">2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships</a>&nbsp;in Wichita.Almost immediately after the crash, President Donald Trump publicly faulted the helicopter for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-reagan-national-airport-crash-325edc6c0c2439dd6c1e73a81e382c0e" target="_blank">flying too high</a>. He also blamed federal diversity and inclusion efforts, particularly regarding air traffic controllers. When&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-washington-dc-trump-dei-claims-3ac5486ec594d81e919e8ebbd9733869">pressed</a>&nbsp;by reporters, the president could not back up those claims. A few days later, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-plane-crash-air-traffic-control-ab195790634af66534a45cdec2d80aa8" target="_blank">placed the blame</a>&nbsp;on what he called an “obsolete” air traffic control system.___Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

🎥NTSB reveals shocking new detail in deadly mid-air crash 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;called on Thursday for the United States to “delete entire agencies” from the federal government as part of his push under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;to radically cut spending and restructure its priorities.

(Click below to listen to Musk's statement on deleting agencies)

Musk offered a wide-ranging survey via a videocall to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, of what he described as the priorities of the Trump administration interspersed with multiple references to “thermonuclear warfare” and the possible dangers of artificial intelligence.

(click below to listen to the full interview with Musk)

“We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people — democracy,” Musk said, wearing a black T-shirt that read: “Tech Support.” He also joked that he was the “White House’s tech support,” borrowing from his profile on the social platform X, which he owns.

“I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind,” Musk said. “If we don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”

While Musk has spoken to the summit in the past, his appearance on Thursday comes as he has consolidated control over large swaths of the government with Trump’s blessing since assuming leadership of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-doge-ce55aa7ca8c921511d18e837c2a2db64">Department of Government Efficiency</a>. That’s included sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and inviting a constitutional clash over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-power-border-tiktok-history-e77458bc0312c60f3f2b0eeb131d0056">the limits of presidential authority</a>.

Musk's new role imbued his comments with more weight beyond being the world’s wealthiest person through his investments in SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla.

His remarks also offered a more-isolationist view of American power in the Middle East, where the U.S. has fought wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“A lot of attention has been on USAID for example,” Musk said, referring to Trump's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “There's like the National Endowment for Democracy. But I’m like, ‘Okay, well, how much democracy have they achieved lately?’”

He added that the U.S. under Trump is “less interested in interfering with the affairs of other countries.”

There are “times the United States has been kind of pushy in international affairs, which may resonate with some members of the audience,” Musk said, speaking to the crowd in the UAE, an autocratically ruled nation of seven sheikhdoms.

"Basically, America should mind its own business, rather than push for regime change all over the place,” he said.

He also noted the Trump administration's focus on eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion work, at one point linking it to AI.

“If hypothetically, AI is designed for DEI, you know, diversity at all costs, it could decide that there’s too many men in power and execute them,” Musk said.

On AI, Musk said he believed X's newly updated AI chatbot, Grok 3, would be ready in about two weeks, calling it at one point “kind of scary.”

He criticized Sam Altman's management of OpenAI,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai-bid-chatgpt-58d9bc3d59497468d7b37ecd5d9ff5e6">which Musk just led a $97.4 billion takeover bid for</a>, describing it as akin to a nonprofit aimed at saving the Amazon rainforest becoming a "lumber company that chops down the trees.” A court filing Wednesday on Musk's behalf in the OpenAI dispute said he'd withdraw his bid if&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-ai-f024aca265ad8ee9f30b699a0c74066c">the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company</a>.

Musk also announced plans for a “Dubai Loop” project in line with his work in the Boring Company — which is digging tunnels in Las Vegas to speed transit.

A later statement from Dubai's crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, said the city-state and the Boring Company “will explore the development” of a 17-kilometer (10.5-mile) underground network with 11 stations that could transport over 20,000 passengers an hour. He offered no financial terms for the deal.

“It’s going to be like a wormhole," Musk promised. "You just wormhole from one part of the city — boom — and you're out in another part of the city.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739454902556.png" alt="Musk spoke Thursday to the&nbsp;World Governments Summit-image from the video" />
 <figcaption>Musk spoke Thursday to the&nbsp;World Governments Summit-image from the video</figcaption>
 </figure>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;called on Thursday for the United States to “delete entire agencies” from the federal government as part of his push under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;to radically cut spending and restructure its priorities.(Click below to listen to Musk's statement on deleting agencies)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1IoygzQ9xi0?si=EB8kkNk9JvCGPBXK&amp;start=2106" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Musk offered a wide-ranging survey via a videocall to the World Governments Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, of what he described as the priorities of the Trump administration interspersed with multiple references to “thermonuclear warfare” and the possible dangers of artificial intelligence.(click below to listen to the full interview with Musk)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1IoygzQ9xi0?si=XObFE3TebT-gQLGH&amp;start=1687" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>“We really have here rule of the bureaucracy as opposed to rule of the people — democracy,” Musk said, wearing a black T-shirt that read: “Tech Support.” He also joked that he was the “White House’s tech support,” borrowing from his profile on the social platform X, which he owns.“I think we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave a lot of them behind,” Musk said. “If we don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”While Musk has spoken to the summit in the past, his appearance on Thursday comes as he has consolidated control over large swaths of the government with Trump’s blessing since assuming leadership of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-doge-ce55aa7ca8c921511d18e837c2a2db64">Department of Government Efficiency</a>. That’s included sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and inviting a constitutional clash over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-power-border-tiktok-history-e77458bc0312c60f3f2b0eeb131d0056">the limits of presidential authority</a>.Musk's new role imbued his comments with more weight beyond being the world’s wealthiest person through his investments in SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla.His remarks also offered a more-isolationist view of American power in the Middle East, where the U.S. has fought wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.“A lot of attention has been on USAID for example,” Musk said, referring to Trump's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “There's like the National Endowment for Democracy. But I’m like, ‘Okay, well, how much democracy have they achieved lately?’”He added that the U.S. under Trump is “less interested in interfering with the affairs of other countries.”There are “times the United States has been kind of pushy in international affairs, which may resonate with some members of the audience,” Musk said, speaking to the crowd in the UAE, an autocratically ruled nation of seven sheikhdoms."Basically, America should mind its own business, rather than push for regime change all over the place,” he said.He also noted the Trump administration's focus on eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion work, at one point linking it to AI.“If hypothetically, AI is designed for DEI, you know, diversity at all costs, it could decide that there’s too many men in power and execute them,” Musk said.On AI, Musk said he believed X's newly updated AI chatbot, Grok 3, would be ready in about two weeks, calling it at one point “kind of scary.”He criticized Sam Altman's management of OpenAI,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai-bid-chatgpt-58d9bc3d59497468d7b37ecd5d9ff5e6">which Musk just led a $97.4 billion takeover bid for</a>, describing it as akin to a nonprofit aimed at saving the Amazon rainforest becoming a "lumber company that chops down the trees.” A court filing Wednesday on Musk's behalf in the OpenAI dispute said he'd withdraw his bid if&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-ai-f024aca265ad8ee9f30b699a0c74066c">the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company</a>.Musk also announced plans for a “Dubai Loop” project in line with his work in the Boring Company — which is digging tunnels in Las Vegas to speed transit.A later statement from Dubai's crown prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, said the city-state and the Boring Company “will explore the development” of a 17-kilometer (10.5-mile) underground network with 11 stations that could transport over 20,000 passengers an hour. He offered no financial terms for the deal.“It’s going to be like a wormhole," Musk promised. "You just wormhole from one part of the city — boom — and you're out in another part of the city.”

🎥 Musk to world leaders: U.S. gov't needs to delete entire agencies

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday dealt President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk their first big setback in their dismantling of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-usaid-musk-doge-7ec0a2b4032d4782d41c00164003b5de">U.S. Agency for International Development,</a>&nbsp;ordering a temporary halt to plans to pull thousands of agency staffers off the job.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, also agreed to block an order that would have given the thousands of overseas USAID workers the administration wanted to place on abrupt administrative leave just 30 days to move families and households back to the U.S. on government expense.

Both moves would have exposed the U.S. workers and their spouses and children to unwarranted risk and expense, the judge said.

Nichols pointed to accounts from workers abroad that the Trump administration, in its rush to shut down the agency and its programs abroad, had cut some workers off from government emails and other communication systems they needed to reach the U.S. government in case of a health or safety emergency.

The Associated Press reported earlier that USAID contractors in the Middle East and elsewhere had found even “panic button” apps&nbsp;<a href="https://that%20both%20orders%20exposed%20u.s.%20aid%20and%20development%20workers%20abroad%20to%20unwarranted%20risk%20and%20hardship./">wiped off their mobile phones</a>&nbsp;or disabled when the administration abruptly furloughed them.

“Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda,” the judge said in his order Friday night.

In agreeing to stop the 30-day deadline given USAID staffers to return home at government expense, Nichols cited statements from agency employees who had no home to go to in the U.S. after decades abroad, who faced pulling children with special needs out of school midyear, and had other difficulties.

The judge also ordered USAID staffers already placed on leave by the Trump administration reinstated. But he declined a request from two federal employee associations to grant a temporary block on a Trump administration funding freeze that has shut down the six-decade-old agency and its work, pending more hearings on the workers' lawsuit.

Nichols stressed in the hearing earlier Friday on the request to pause the Trump administration's actions that his order was not a decision on the employees' request to roll back the administration's swiftly moving destruction of the agency.

“CLOSE IT DOWN,” Trump said on social media of USAID before the judge’s ruling.

The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees argue that Trump lacks the authority to shut down the agency without approval from Congress. Democratic lawmakers have made the same argument.

Trump's administration moved quickly Friday to literally erase the agency's name. Workers on a crane scrubbed the name from the stone front of its Washington headquarters. They used duct tape to block it out on a sign and took down USAID flags. Someone placed a bouquet of flowers outside the door.

The Trump administration and&nbsp;<a href="https://elon%20musk/">Musk</a>, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have made USAID their biggest target so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.

Administration appointees and Musk's teams have shut down almost all funding for the agency, stopping aid and development programs worldwide. They have placed staffers and contractors on leave and furlough and locked them out of the agency's email and other systems. According to Democratic lawmakers, they also carted away USAID's computer servers.

“This is a full-scale gutting of virtually all the personnel of an entire agency,” Karla Gilbride, the attorney for the employee associations, told the judge.

Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate argued that the administration has all the legal authority it needs to place agency staffers on leave. “The government does this across the board every day,” Shumate said. “That’s what’s happening here. It’s just a large number.”

Friday’s ruling is the latest setback in the courts for the Trump administration, whose policies to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buyout-offer-deadline-trump-federal-workers-ce854b19c41b90cd657f75cf09511e96">offer financial incentives for federal workers</a>&nbsp;to resign and end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-birthright-citizenship-executive-order-3ac5d6dc51ee95dcccc647a8c080c3e3">birthright citizenship</a>&nbsp;for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally have been temporarily paused by judges.

Earlier Friday, a group of a half-dozen USAID officials speaking to reporters strongly disputed assertions from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the most essential life-saving programs abroad were getting waivers to continue funding. None were, the officials said.

Among the programs they said had not received waivers: $450 million in food grown by U.S. farmers sufficient to feed 36 million people, which was not being paid for or delivered; and water supplies for 1.6 million people displaced by war in Sudan’s Darfur region, which were being cut off without money for fuel to run water pumps in the desert.

The judge’s order involved the Trump administration’s decision earlier this week to pull almost all USAID workers off the job and out of the field worldwide.

Trump and congressional Republicans have spoken of moving a much-reduced number of aid and development programs under the State Department.

Within the State Department itself, employees fear substantial staff reductions following the deadline for the Trump administration's offer of financial incentives for federal workers to resign, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. A judge temporarily blocked that offer and set a hearing Monday.

The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Diplomats at embassies asked for waivers allowing more time for some, including families forced to pull their children out of schools midyear.

In a notice posted on the USAID website late Thursday, the agency clarified that none of the overseas personnel put on leave would be forced to leave the country where they work. But it said that workers who chose to stay longer than 30 days might have to cover their own expenses unless they received a specific hardship waiver.

Rubio said Thursday during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rubio-panama-canal-gaza-migration-usaid-b148af6bb15da37a8b6e4edf5a873829">a trip to the Dominican Republic</a>&nbsp;that the government would help staffers get home within 30 days “if they so desired" and would listen to those with special conditions.

He insisted the moves were the only way to get cooperation because staffers were working “to sneak through payments and push through payments despite the stop order” on foreign assistance. Agency staffers deny his claims of obstruction.

Rubio said the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid, “but it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738896794184.jpeg" alt="Democrat members of Congress protest USAID cuts Wednesday-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Democrat members of Congress protest USAID cuts Wednesday-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday dealt President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk their first big setback in their dismantling of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-usaid-musk-doge-7ec0a2b4032d4782d41c00164003b5de">U.S. Agency for International Development,</a>&nbsp;ordering a temporary halt to plans to pull thousands of agency staffers off the job.U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, also agreed to block an order that would have given the thousands of overseas USAID workers the administration wanted to place on abrupt administrative leave just 30 days to move families and households back to the U.S. on government expense.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738968148672.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Both moves would have exposed the U.S. workers and their spouses and children to unwarranted risk and expense, the judge said.Nichols pointed to accounts from workers abroad that the Trump administration, in its rush to shut down the agency and its programs abroad, had cut some workers off from government emails and other communication systems they needed to reach the U.S. government in case of a health or safety emergency.The Associated Press reported earlier that USAID contractors in the Middle East and elsewhere had found even “panic button” apps&nbsp;<a href="https://that%20both%20orders%20exposed%20u.s.%20aid%20and%20development%20workers%20abroad%20to%20unwarranted%20risk%20and%20hardship./">wiped off their mobile phones</a>&nbsp;or disabled when the administration abruptly furloughed them.“Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda,” the judge said in his order Friday night.In agreeing to stop the 30-day deadline given USAID staffers to return home at government expense, Nichols cited statements from agency employees who had no home to go to in the U.S. after decades abroad, who faced pulling children with special needs out of school midyear, and had other difficulties.The judge also ordered USAID staffers already placed on leave by the Trump administration reinstated. But he declined a request from two federal employee associations to grant a temporary block on a Trump administration funding freeze that has shut down the six-decade-old agency and its work, pending more hearings on the workers' lawsuit.Nichols stressed in the hearing earlier Friday on the request to pause the Trump administration's actions that his order was not a decision on the employees' request to roll back the administration's swiftly moving destruction of the agency.“CLOSE IT DOWN,” Trump said on social media of USAID before the judge’s ruling.The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees argue that Trump lacks the authority to shut down the agency without approval from Congress. Democratic lawmakers have made the same argument.Trump's administration moved quickly Friday to literally erase the agency's name. Workers on a crane scrubbed the name from the stone front of its Washington headquarters. They used duct tape to block it out on a sign and took down USAID flags. Someone placed a bouquet of flowers outside the door.The Trump administration and&nbsp;<a href="https://elon%20musk/">Musk</a>, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have made USAID their biggest target so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.Administration appointees and Musk's teams have shut down almost all funding for the agency, stopping aid and development programs worldwide. They have placed staffers and contractors on leave and furlough and locked them out of the agency's email and other systems. According to Democratic lawmakers, they also carted away USAID's computer servers.“This is a full-scale gutting of virtually all the personnel of an entire agency,” Karla Gilbride, the attorney for the employee associations, told the judge.Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate argued that the administration has all the legal authority it needs to place agency staffers on leave. “The government does this across the board every day,” Shumate said. “That’s what’s happening here. It’s just a large number.”Friday’s ruling is the latest setback in the courts for the Trump administration, whose policies to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buyout-offer-deadline-trump-federal-workers-ce854b19c41b90cd657f75cf09511e96">offer financial incentives for federal workers</a>&nbsp;to resign and end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-birthright-citizenship-executive-order-3ac5d6dc51ee95dcccc647a8c080c3e3">birthright citizenship</a>&nbsp;for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally have been temporarily paused by judges.Earlier Friday, a group of a half-dozen USAID officials speaking to reporters strongly disputed assertions from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the most essential life-saving programs abroad were getting waivers to continue funding. None were, the officials said.Among the programs they said had not received waivers: $450 million in food grown by U.S. farmers sufficient to feed 36 million people, which was not being paid for or delivered; and water supplies for 1.6 million people displaced by war in Sudan’s Darfur region, which were being cut off without money for fuel to run water pumps in the desert.The judge’s order involved the Trump administration’s decision earlier this week to pull almost all USAID workers off the job and out of the field worldwide.Trump and congressional Republicans have spoken of moving a much-reduced number of aid and development programs under the State Department.Within the State Department itself, employees fear substantial staff reductions following the deadline for the Trump administration's offer of financial incentives for federal workers to resign, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. A judge temporarily blocked that offer and set a hearing Monday.The administration earlier this week gave almost all USAID staffers posted overseas 30 days, starting Friday, to return to the U.S., with the government paying for their travel and moving costs. Diplomats at embassies asked for waivers allowing more time for some, including families forced to pull their children out of schools midyear.In a notice posted on the USAID website late Thursday, the agency clarified that none of the overseas personnel put on leave would be forced to leave the country where they work. But it said that workers who chose to stay longer than 30 days might have to cover their own expenses unless they received a specific hardship waiver.Rubio said Thursday during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rubio-panama-canal-gaza-migration-usaid-b148af6bb15da37a8b6e4edf5a873829">a trip to the Dominican Republic</a>&nbsp;that the government would help staffers get home within 30 days “if they so desired" and would listen to those with special conditions.He insisted the moves were the only way to get cooperation because staffers were working “to sneak through payments and push through payments despite the stop order” on foreign assistance. Agency staffers deny his claims of obstruction.Rubio said the U.S. government will continue providing foreign aid, “but it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest."

30-day deadline: Judge blocks Trump from placing USAID workers on leave

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

A Jackson County judge previously allowed certain regulations, such as mandatory pelvic exams for medical abortion, to remain in place

Nearly two months after<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/12/05/abortion-lawsuit-planned-parenthood-amendment-3-missouri-jackson-county/">&nbsp;a voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing abortion</a>&nbsp;went into effect, the procedure remains inaccessible in Missouri.&nbsp;

On Friday, a Jackson County judge heard arguments over whether to grant an injunction requested by Planned Parenthood that would permit the organization to offer abortion services almost immediately.&nbsp;

Last month, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/12/20/missouri-amendment-3-abortion-regulations-trap-laws/">struck down a number of “targeted regulation of abortion provider” statutes,</a>&nbsp;better known as TRAP laws.&nbsp;

Laws mandating a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion and a requirement that physicians performing the procedure have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals were put on hold.&nbsp;

But other regulations the judge allowed to remain — such as state licensing requirements and a mandate to receive a pelvic exam before being prescribed the pill used in medication abortion — have left clinics unable to perform the procedure in Missouri.

On Friday afternoon, Zhang again listened to arguments from Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office during the hearing in downtown Kansas City.&nbsp;

“We have still not been able to restore abortion access in Missouri,” Eleanor Spottswood, an attorney with Planned Parenthood, argued Friday.

Zhang asked how Planned Parenthood clinics would be regulated if she were to strike down the current licensing requirements from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Spottswood said that like other outpatient practices, the facility would not require a license, but the providers would need to meet their own professional licensing requirements through the Missouri Board of Healing Arts.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738417012018.png" alt="A recovery room at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains office is pictured on June 21, 2024, in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>A recovery room at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains office is pictured on June 21, 2024, in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a><h2>A Jackson County judge previously allowed certain regulations, such as mandatory pelvic exams for medical abortion, to remain in place</h2>Nearly two months after<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/12/05/abortion-lawsuit-planned-parenthood-amendment-3-missouri-jackson-county/">&nbsp;a voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing abortion</a>&nbsp;went into effect, the procedure remains inaccessible in Missouri.&nbsp;On Friday, a Jackson County judge heard arguments over whether to grant an injunction requested by Planned Parenthood that would permit the organization to offer abortion services almost immediately.&nbsp;Last month, Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/12/20/missouri-amendment-3-abortion-regulations-trap-laws/">struck down a number of “targeted regulation of abortion provider” statutes,</a>&nbsp;better known as TRAP laws.&nbsp;Laws mandating a 72-hour waiting period for an abortion and a requirement that physicians performing the procedure have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals were put on hold.&nbsp;But other regulations the judge allowed to remain — such as state licensing requirements and a mandate to receive a pelvic exam before being prescribed the pill used in medication abortion — have left clinics unable to perform the procedure in Missouri.On Friday afternoon, Zhang again listened to arguments from Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office during the hearing in downtown Kansas City.&nbsp;“We have still not been able to restore abortion access in Missouri,” Eleanor Spottswood, an attorney with Planned Parenthood, argued Friday.Zhang asked how Planned Parenthood clinics would be regulated if she were to strike down the current licensing requirements from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Spottswood said that like other outpatient practices, the facility would not require a license, but the providers would need to meet their own professional licensing requirements through the Missouri Board of Healing Arts.&nbsp;Planned Parenthood is currently held to a much higher threshold of regulations, she said.Pottswood said if the judge strikes down the remaining TRAP laws, it’s Planned Parenthood’s intention to offer medication abortions at all nine clinics across the state within a week The organization hopes it can hire and train the necessary staff to also begin performing surgical abortions at its clinics in St. Louis and Kansas City.&nbsp;The state previously asked that the case be dismissed, arguing that because abortion is still accessible by mail or by leaving the state, Planned Parenthood didn’t have the standing to ask for a temporary ruling.Much of Friday’s hearing revolved around pelvic exams, which Planned Parenthood’s attorneys maintained are “invasive and unnecessary” ahead of prescribing abortion medication. Instead, Pottswood said, the clinics use other methods to determine if the pregnancy is at risk of being ectopic, meaning the fertilized egg has implanted itself outside the uterus.&nbsp;Taking abortion medication to end an ectopic pregnancy can be dangerous.Missouri Solicitor General Joshua Divine argued that pelvic exams ahead of any procedure are “routine care,” and should remain in place.&nbsp;Zhang asked if hospitals can perform abortions following passage of Amendment 3 last year, seemingly attempting to determine whether the current pelvic exam law is discriminatory against abortion clinics or if it would also be required at hospitals.&nbsp;Pottswood said they presumably can, but a question remains of whether any will. Divine agreed that while he believes hospitals can now provide abortions, it is “very, very rare” that they do so in Missouri … so there’s not much need to regulate.”Without a broader injunction, Pottswood argued, “the state will enforce the law in the most obstructive way possible” and “treat abortion providers differently and worse than other providers.”&nbsp;This interferes with patients rights, she said, which is in violation of&nbsp;<a href="https://moconstitutionalfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Missourians-for-Constitutional-Freedom-Amendment.pdf" target="_blank">Amendment 3, which states in part&nbsp;</a>that “the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted unless the government demonstrates that such action is justifiable by a compelling governmental interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”&nbsp;A decade ago, more than 5,000 abortions were performed in Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. By 2020, when abortions were still legal, that number fell to 167, a drop that abortion providers attributed to the state’s growing list of regulations.Divine questioned why the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis hadn’t reapplied for a license, since they were the only clinic in the state that still met licensing requirements when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. He called the lack of access a “purely self-inflicted injury.”Missouri’s trigger law banning all abortions with limited exceptions for medical emergencies went into effect the same day, ending the procedure at the St. Louis clinic.Assuming that the state would grant the license, Pottswood said by limiting patients’ choices to one clinic in the state, “the licensing law inserts the state between the patient and the provider.”The hearing, which lasted four hours, also discussed the state’s continued objection to the Jackson County prosecutor, formerly Jean Peters Baker and currently Melesa Johnson, being named as the defendants representing all county prosecutors in the case.&nbsp;The attorney general’s office argues Johnson, who was endorsed by the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood, does not appropriately represent all statewide prosecutors.Zhang previously denied the state’s request to remove the Jackson County prosecutor as a representative for the defendant class and move the case to Cole County, where last summer a judge attempted to strike the abortion-rights amendment from the ballot.&nbsp;On Friday, the prosecutors from Wright, Texas, Franklin and Saline counties showed up in court to continue to object, arguing that because there isn’t a Planned Parenthood clinic in any of their counties, all county prosecutors shouldn’t necessarily be a party in the case.&nbsp;Zhang said her concern centers around the possibility that residents in any county could be prescribed abortion medication at a clinic before returning to their home counties. She also noted that three of the four counties have emergency rooms where women experiencing any abortion complications could be admitted.“There could be a risk of prosecution across the state because of telemedicine,” she said.No specific examples of what cases could be prosecuted were entertained. Tyrrell added that if he did prosecute an abortion case, he was confident he’d quickly find himself again sitting across from Planned Parenthood in a courtroom.“I won’t swear I won’t and I won’t swear I will prosecute,” Wright County ProsecutorJohn Tyrrell told Zhang. “ … but the likelihood is very, very low.”Zhang gave both parties one week to file additional briefings. Her decision is expected after that. The bench trial, at which point the judge will make a permanent ruling, has been set for January 2026.