BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/rmipro/">RACHEL MIPRO</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GewzdRccawj4l4WPJcOuerDaGYOm1IJY/view?usp=sharing">survey of Kansans’ attitudes</a>&nbsp;on lawmakers, health care and economic issues found a wellspring of support for expanding Medicaid eligibility — along with a prevailing belief that lawmakers aren’t tuned into the financial challenges Kansas families are facing and are not passing policies that help Kansans.

Nonpartisan research firm Perry Undem conducted the study on behalf of the Kansas Common Sense Fund, and with support from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 Kansas voters in February on health care, child care and hunger.

“It’s pretty clear that Kansans are feeling a significant amount of financial stress, due to the high cost of food, health care, child care and housing,” said David Jordan, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “… It is pretty striking that there’s significant agreement on the challenges that Kansans face, on solutions that could help address those challenges and on the fact that policymakers aren’t recognizing and acting in accordance with where Kansans are on these issues.”

Seventy-nine percent of voters said most Kansas policymakers aren’t in touch with the financial challenges facing average families. Seventy percent of voters did not think Kansas politicians were looking out for working families.

More than 80% of voters said housing, health care, child care and healthy food are increasingly difficult for the average Kansas family to afford. About 70% felt the average Kansas family is currently under financial strain.

“The vast majority of Kansans believe that policymakers are not listening to working people as they push through new laws and policy changes,” said Ashley All, executive director for Kansas Common Sense Fund. “Kansans agree that lawmakers should be doing more to support parents and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Kansas needs to focus on commonsense policies that make child care more affordable and drive down costs for everyone.”

Of those surveyed, 90%&nbsp; were concerned about rural hospitals closing and 73% supported Medicaid expansion, which would expand state health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those at 138% of the federal poverty rate and below. Kansas is among 10 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.

Most of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are low-income workers or Kansans suffering from chronic illness. Medicaid expansion would also unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.

While expansion has been blocked by top Republican state lawmakers in the House and Senate, long-time advocate Gov. Laura Kelly, along with health care groups, has pressured lawmakers to take another crack at the issue this session. Her proposal is scheduled for two hearings Wednesday.&nbsp;

The new survey, like others released in recent years, showed expansion has bipartisan support. About 90% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 61% of Republicans supported expansion. Ninety-five percent of residents said they were worried about health care costs increasing, and 87% were worried about the number of uninsured people in the state increasing.

Most people also wanted government action to help Kansans access healthy food and groceries, and opposed adding restrictions to food aid. About 76% of voters said the cost of food was a problem, and 79% supported more state programs on food access.

Most people wanted more state investment in programs that help Kansans afford child care, with 78% in favor of expansion of a child care tax credit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Kansas?county=all">Child care data</a>&nbsp;in the state suggests only 46% of children in Kansas receive child care services, and that an additional 85,000 child care slots are needed to meet demand.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This year, Kelly has recommended a $56 million allocation for child care as part of her proposed budget for<a target="_blank" href="https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-kelly-announces-fiscal-year-2025-budget/">&nbsp;fiscal year 2025</a>. The funding includes nearly $30 million for the construction of child care facilities and $5 million for a northwest Kansas pilot program seeking to test practices for public-private child care partnerships in rural areas.

In the previous year, lawmakers attempted to roll back regulations on child care facilities to address the shortage, but Kelly vetoed the bill due to concerns that decreasing staff training and packing more children into the facilities could be damaging. The survey showed 73% of&nbsp; Kansans are against legislators passing policies that would loosen qualifications and standards for child care providers.&nbsp;

“There’s broad support for tax credits,” Jordan said. “But then there’s also nearly identical agreement that policymakers should not loosen qualifications for childcare providers, just recognizing that the solution is not on par with the need to invest in early childhood affordability and the need to look at creative tax credits that can help make child care more affordable.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710861810230.png" alt="A February study of Kansas voters found widespread concern over rising costs and child care issues, among other statewide concerns. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>A February study of Kansas voters found widespread concern over rising costs and child care issues, among other statewide concerns. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/rmipro/">RACHEL MIPRO</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GewzdRccawj4l4WPJcOuerDaGYOm1IJY/view?usp=sharing">survey of Kansans’ attitudes</a>&nbsp;on lawmakers, health care and economic issues found a wellspring of support for expanding Medicaid eligibility — along with a prevailing belief that lawmakers aren’t tuned into the financial challenges Kansas families are facing and are not passing policies that help Kansans.Nonpartisan research firm Perry Undem conducted the study on behalf of the Kansas Common Sense Fund, and with support from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 Kansas voters in February on health care, child care and hunger.“It’s pretty clear that Kansans are feeling a significant amount of financial stress, due to the high cost of food, health care, child care and housing,” said David Jordan, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “… It is pretty striking that there’s significant agreement on the challenges that Kansans face, on solutions that could help address those challenges and on the fact that policymakers aren’t recognizing and acting in accordance with where Kansans are on these issues.”Seventy-nine percent of voters said most Kansas policymakers aren’t in touch with the financial challenges facing average families. Seventy percent of voters did not think Kansas politicians were looking out for working families.More than 80% of voters said housing, health care, child care and healthy food are increasingly difficult for the average Kansas family to afford. About 70% felt the average Kansas family is currently under financial strain.“The vast majority of Kansans believe that policymakers are not listening to working people as they push through new laws and policy changes,” said Ashley All, executive director for Kansas Common Sense Fund. “Kansans agree that lawmakers should be doing more to support parents and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Kansas needs to focus on commonsense policies that make child care more affordable and drive down costs for everyone.”Of those surveyed, 90%&nbsp; were concerned about rural hospitals closing and 73% supported Medicaid expansion, which would expand state health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those at 138% of the federal poverty rate and below. Kansas is among 10 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.Most of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are low-income workers or Kansans suffering from chronic illness. Medicaid expansion would also unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.While expansion has been blocked by top Republican state lawmakers in the House and Senate, long-time advocate Gov. Laura Kelly, along with health care groups, has pressured lawmakers to take another crack at the issue this session. Her proposal is scheduled for two hearings Wednesday.&nbsp;The new survey, like others released in recent years, showed expansion has bipartisan support. About 90% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 61% of Republicans supported expansion. Ninety-five percent of residents said they were worried about health care costs increasing, and 87% were worried about the number of uninsured people in the state increasing.Most people also wanted government action to help Kansans access healthy food and groceries, and opposed adding restrictions to food aid. About 76% of voters said the cost of food was a problem, and 79% supported more state programs on food access.Most people wanted more state investment in programs that help Kansans afford child care, with 78% in favor of expansion of a child care tax credit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Kansas?county=all">Child care data</a>&nbsp;in the state suggests only 46% of children in Kansas receive child care services, and that an additional 85,000 child care slots are needed to meet demand.&nbsp;&nbsp;This year, Kelly has recommended a $56 million allocation for child care as part of her proposed budget for<a target="_blank" href="https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-kelly-announces-fiscal-year-2025-budget/">&nbsp;fiscal year 2025</a>. The funding includes nearly $30 million for the construction of child care facilities and $5 million for a northwest Kansas pilot program seeking to test practices for public-private child care partnerships in rural areas.In the previous year, lawmakers attempted to roll back regulations on child care facilities to address the shortage, but Kelly vetoed the bill due to concerns that decreasing staff training and packing more children into the facilities could be damaging. The survey showed 73% of&nbsp; Kansans are against legislators passing policies that would loosen qualifications and standards for child care providers.&nbsp;“There’s broad support for tax credits,” Jordan said. “But then there’s also nearly identical agreement that policymakers should not loosen qualifications for childcare providers, just recognizing that the solution is not on par with the need to invest in early childhood affordability and the need to look at creative tax credits that can help make child care more affordable.”

Survey: Kansas voters worry about health, child care, hunger — and out-of-touch lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;seemed likely Monday to side with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security in a case that could set standards for free speech in the digital age.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411/">Click here to listen to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral argument&nbsp;

The justices seemed broadly skeptical during nearly two hours of arguments that a lawyer for Louisiana, Missouri and other parties presented accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view.

Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.

Several justices said they were concerned that common interactions between government officials and the platforms could be affected by a ruling for the states.

In one example, Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed surprise when Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga questioned whether the FBI could call Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to encourage them to take down posts that maliciously released someone's personal information without permission, the practice known as doxxing.

“Do you know how often the FBI makes those calls?” Barrett asked, suggesting they happen frequently.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh also signaled that a ruling for the states would mean that “traditional, everyday communications would suddenly be deemed problematic.”

The case Monday was among several the court is considering that affect social media companies in the context of free speech. Last week, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.

The cases over state laws and the one that was argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.

The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on social media platforms.

Aguiñaga put the situation in stark terms, telling the justices that “the record reveals unrelenting pressure by the government to coerce social media platforms to suppress the speech of millions of Americans.”

He said that calls merely encouraging the platforms to act also could violate speech rights, responding to a hypothetical situation conjured by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, about an online challenge that “involved teens jumping out of windows at increasing elevations.”

Jackson, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, pressed the Louisiana lawyer about whether platforms could be encouraged to remove such posts.

“I was with you right until that last comment, Your Honor,” Aguiñaga said. “I think they absolutely can call and say this is a problem, it’s going rampant on your platforms, but the moment that the government tries to use its ability as the government and its stature as the government to pressure them to take it down, that is when you’re interfering with the third party’s speech rights.”

Justice Samuel Alito appeared most open to the states' arguments, at one point referring to the government's “constant pestering of Facebook and some of the other platforms.” Alito, along with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the restrictions on government contacts with the platforms to go into effect.

Justice Department lawyer Brian Fletcher argued that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion and that the federal government would lose its ability to communicate with the social media companies about antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts, as well as on issues of national security, public health and election integrity.

The platforms are large sophisticated actors with no reluctance to stand up to the government, “saying no repeatedly when they disagree with what the government is asking them to do,” Fletcher said.

Justice Elena Kagan and Kavanaugh, two justices who served in the White House earlier in their careers, seemed to agree, likening the exchanges between officials and the platforms to relationships between the government and more traditional media.

Kavanaugh described “experienced government press people throughout the federal government who regularly call up the media and -- and berate them.”

Later, Kagan said, “I mean, this happens literally thousands of times a day in the federal government.”

Alito, gesturing at the courtroom's press section, mused that whenever reporters “write something we don't like,” the court's chief spokeswoman “can call them up and curse them out and say...why don’t we be partners? We’re on the same team. Why don’t you show us what you’re going to write beforehand? We’ll edit it for you, make sure it’s accurate.”

Free speech advocates said the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.

“We’re encouraged that the Court was sensitive both to the First Amendment rights of platforms and their users, and to the public interest in having a government empowered to participate in public discourse. To that end, we hope that the Court resolves these cases by making clear that the First Amendment prohibits coercion but permits the government to attempt to shape public opinion through the use of persuasion.” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.

A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.

A decision in Murthy v. Missouri, 23-411, is expected by early summer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a dispute between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411\">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral argument&nbsp;

The justices are hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.

The high court is in the midst of a term heavy with social media issues. On Friday, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.

The cases over state laws and the one being argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.

The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other media platforms.

“It’s a very, very threatening thing when the federal government uses the power and authority of the government to block people from exercising their freedom of speech,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video her office posted online.

The administration responds that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion. The states “still have not identified any instance in which any government official sought to coerce a platform’s editorial decisions with a threat of adverse government action,” wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. Prelogar wrote that states also can't “point to any evidence that the government ever imposed any sanction when the platforms declined to moderate content the government had flagged — as routinely occurred.”

The companies themselves are not involved in the case.

Free speech advocates say the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.

"The government has no authority to threaten platforms into censoring protected speech, but it must have the ability to participate in public discourse so that it can effectively govern and inform the public of its views,” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have rejected the emergency appeal from the Biden administration.

Alito wrote in dissent in October: “At this time in the history of our country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news. That is most unfortunate."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710764500358.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;seemed likely Monday to side with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security in a case that could set standards for free speech in the digital age.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411/">Click here to listen to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral argument&nbsp;The justices seemed broadly skeptical during nearly two hours of arguments that a lawyer for Louisiana, Missouri and other parties presented accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view.Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">When I was AG I filed Missouri v Biden. On Monday the Supreme Court hears the case. It’s the most important Free Speech case in our nation’s history. The government can’t censor speech &amp; it can’t outsource censorship to social media giants either.<a href="https://t.co/jWzshevGsl">pic.twitter.com/jWzshevGsl</a>&mdash; Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) <a href="https://twitter.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1769025010948067493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Several justices said they were concerned that common interactions between government officials and the platforms could be affected by a ruling for the states.In one example, Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed surprise when Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga questioned whether the FBI could call Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to encourage them to take down posts that maliciously released someone's personal information without permission, the practice known as doxxing.“Do you know how often the FBI makes those calls?” Barrett asked, suggesting they happen frequently.Justice Brett Kavanaugh also signaled that a ruling for the states would mean that “traditional, everyday communications would suddenly be deemed problematic.”The case Monday was among several the court is considering that affect social media companies in the context of free speech. Last week, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.The cases over state laws and the one that was argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on social media platforms.Aguiñaga put the situation in stark terms, telling the justices that “the record reveals unrelenting pressure by the government to coerce social media platforms to suppress the speech of millions of Americans.”He said that calls merely encouraging the platforms to act also could violate speech rights, responding to a hypothetical situation conjured by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, about an online challenge that “involved teens jumping out of windows at increasing elevations.”Jackson, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, pressed the Louisiana lawyer about whether platforms could be encouraged to remove such posts.“I was with you right until that last comment, Your Honor,” Aguiñaga said. “I think they absolutely can call and say this is a problem, it’s going rampant on your platforms, but the moment that the government tries to use its ability as the government and its stature as the government to pressure them to take it down, that is when you’re interfering with the third party’s speech rights.”Justice Samuel Alito appeared most open to the states' arguments, at one point referring to the government's “constant pestering of Facebook and some of the other platforms.” Alito, along with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the restrictions on government contacts with the platforms to go into effect.Justice Department lawyer Brian Fletcher argued that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion and that the federal government would lose its ability to communicate with the social media companies about antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts, as well as on issues of national security, public health and election integrity.The platforms are large sophisticated actors with no reluctance to stand up to the government, “saying no repeatedly when they disagree with what the government is asking them to do,” Fletcher said.Justice Elena Kagan and Kavanaugh, two justices who served in the White House earlier in their careers, seemed to agree, likening the exchanges between officials and the platforms to relationships between the government and more traditional media.Kavanaugh described “experienced government press people throughout the federal government who regularly call up the media and -- and berate them.”Later, Kagan said, “I mean, this happens literally thousands of times a day in the federal government.”Alito, gesturing at the courtroom's press section, mused that whenever reporters “write something we don't like,” the court's chief spokeswoman “can call them up and curse them out and say...why don’t we be partners? We’re on the same team. Why don’t you show us what you’re going to write beforehand? We’ll edit it for you, make sure it’s accurate.”Free speech advocates said the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.“We’re encouraged that the Court was sensitive both to the First Amendment rights of platforms and their users, and to the public interest in having a government empowered to participate in public discourse. To that end, we hope that the Court resolves these cases by making clear that the First Amendment prohibits coercion but permits the government to attempt to shape public opinion through the use of persuasion.” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.A decision in Murthy v. Missouri, 23-411, is expected by early summer.----------<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710764500358.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a dispute between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411\">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral argument&nbsp;The justices are hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.The high court is in the midst of a term heavy with social media issues. On Friday, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.The cases over state laws and the one being argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other media platforms.“It’s a very, very threatening thing when the federal government uses the power and authority of the government to block people from exercising their freedom of speech,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video her office posted online.The administration responds that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion. The states “still have not identified any instance in which any government official sought to coerce a platform’s editorial decisions with a threat of adverse government action,” wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. Prelogar wrote that states also can't “point to any evidence that the government ever imposed any sanction when the platforms declined to moderate content the government had flagged — as routinely occurred.”The companies themselves are not involved in the case.Free speech advocates say the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech."The government has no authority to threaten platforms into censoring protected speech, but it must have the ability to participate in public discourse so that it can effectively govern and inform the public of its views,” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have rejected the emergency appeal from the Biden administration.Alito wrote in dissent in October: “At this time in the history of our country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news. That is most unfortunate."

🎧 Social media censorship: Supreme Court’s oral arguments

The Stiefel Theatre in Salina is thrilled to announce its upcoming show,&nbsp;Barenaked Ladies with Toad The Wet Sprocket, on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets start at $89 and are on sale Friday, March 22, @ noon.&nbsp;Buy in person at the Stiefel Theatre Box Office or online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stiefeltheatre.org/">www.stiefeltheatre.org</a>. 785-827-1998

After more than three decades as the lead singer and guitarist for&nbsp;Barenaked Ladies, Ed Robertson has a routine when it comes time to start writing songs for a new album. "I tend to get ideas while I'm driving up to my lake house," he says. "I record voice memos along the way, and then I listen back and try to make sense of them and mix and match the various ideas I've come up with. On a typical drive, I'm happy if I get six or seven — eight ideas would be a good drive.

"For this album," he continues, "on my first writing trip I had 21 different song ideas. I thought, 'Wow, this is really cool.' Then I sat down to write, and I thought if I could finish one of them — get the verses, get the bridge, get the chorus in one day — then I'll know this whole writing period is going to be good. And I finished eight songs. I sat down at 10 in the morning, and I looked up at 9:30 and I hadn't eaten, I hadn't moved from the writing table. It was exciting. I've never felt that before."

The results mark a new chapter for a band that's sold more than 15 million albums, earned Grammy nominations and won multiple Juno Awards, and in 2018, were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.&nbsp;In Flight, BNL's eighteenth studio album, retains the dry wit and keen observation we expect from Robertson, bassist Jim Creeggan, keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn and drummer Tyler Stewart, but adds a strong sense of maturing and lessons learned.

"I think as I age, I get less self-conscious," says Robertson. "I had a goal to write simpler songs on this record, to not out-clever myself and be a little more direct, more emotionally present and honest. And when I listened to what I wrote, I heard what I've been talking about for the last couple of years — ruminations on gratitude, getting older, cancel culture. It was everything I've been thinking about, distilled into songs."

While BNL's last album, 2021's&nbsp;Detour de Force, looked closely at the perils of contemporary, alternate reality media,&nbsp;In Flight&nbsp;offers a sense of joy and appreciation, exemplified in the first single, "Lovin' Life," in which they unironically sing "We're lovin' life/We love it so much that we wanna live it twice/We're lovin' life/We take it high, we take it low/We ride that rollercoaster anywhere it goes." (Robertson wrote the song with Better Than Ezra's Kevin Griffin and Steve Aiello of Thirty Second to Mars; elsewhere on the album, he co-wrote "I Am Asking You" with Donovan Woods).

"It's very easy to get overwhelmed by the firehose of bad news that we're all pretty tuned into, and it is real," says Robertson. "But I think it's really important to remember to still be grateful. I guess I'm just trying to take in the negativity that surrounds us and learn about it and grow from it. 'Lovin' Life' is about experiencing the positivity, because that's there, too."

He points to the recording of the song "Too Old" ("You don't scare me a bit/I'm too old for this shit") as a pivot point for&nbsp;In Flight. "The demo had this arpeggiated acoustic guitar and it was almost melancholy," he says. "It was pretty, but It made it a little more distant from the message. When we started jamming it in pre-production, it turned into this Tom Petty-ish, guitar driven thing, it had a little bite. That was the moment where we were just letting shit happen organically and it felt great."

Even at this point in a legendary career, Barenaked Ladies were open to altering their work habits and finding ways to better serve the new songs. "Typically in the past, we've done all the guitar overdubs, then we go in and do percussion, then do all the keyboard parts," says Robertson. "With this record, we put up a song and said, 'What does it need?,' then put up the next song and finished song by song. So it demanded everyone's attention all the time, as opposed to just concentrating on their parts or the week where they're focusing on their instrument. That kept everybody invested and involved all the way through."

Of course, a band known for hits like "One Week" and "If I Had $1,000,000" isn't going to put out an album without humor — or Canadian Content. Kevin Hearn presented the group with "See the Tower," a song telling the story of the structure that highlights the Toronto skyline. "It's got a kind of sentimental approach, in all the right ways," says Robertson. "It reminds me of a song on&nbsp;Sesame Street&nbsp;or a kid's book about the CN Tower."

Hearn contributed three more songs to&nbsp;In Flight, including one about local Toronto legend "The Peace Lady" and a biting fantasy about a real place in New York City, "The Dream Hotel." Jim Creeggan co-wrote two of the tracks, adding the sweet devotion of "Just Wait" and "Wake Up" (on which he collaborated with Max Kerman of the Arkells).

Robertson is confident that the album's more thoughtful songs, like "Waning Moon" and "Fifty for a While," will play just as well on stage as the comical material. "On the last tour, the songs that I thought we wouldn't even try live ended up being real highlights of the show," he says. "We ended up doing 'Man Made Lake' every night, and it was a real anchor point. 'Live Well' was another one — the most vulnerable, personal, raw, emotional songs. And it's always been like that, we've always had 'One Week,' but the flip side is the reflective nature of 'Pinch Me,' and our audience accepts that from us."

With the song "One Night," Robertson even addresses this unique relationship BNL has with its fans. "We were trying to write something sexy that wasn't just about a steamy night between two consenting adults," he says, "but rather the magical connection that happens between a whole audience and a band. When it goes right — which it almost always does — for that 'One Night' it's a very intense connection."

Barenaked Ladies have become an institution, with a passionately dedicated audience (enough for them to headline their own cruises and have an ice cream flavor named after them) and a constant flow of new fans (plenty of whom discover the band through their theme song to the endlessly popular&nbsp;The Big Bang Theory). Maybe it's just the passage of time, maybe the joy of getting back on the road after the COVID lockdown, but Ed Robertson has noticed a change in his own attitude which adjusted his tone on&nbsp;In Flight.

"I was talking to my daughter the other day," he says, "and I told her that there would have been a me in the past that was standing on stage going, 'Okay, seven more songs and then I get on the bus and go to the next city, and then it's only six more shows before the end of the tour, when I get to go home and be with my family.' Now I find myself looking out and going 'We sold out Red Rocks — again!' I feel very connected to how lucky we are that we still get to do this.

"I think this band is the underdog success story of the century," Robertson continues. "Show me another band with a 35-year career, 15 million records sold, number one hits worldwide, and has never been on the cover of any major music publication. We're a band that has committed to being who we are and what we are, and being as good as we can be — doing the best shows we can do, writing the best songs we can write — and we've done it for 35 years. I'm super proud of that."

Toad The Wet Sprocket - the trio of founding members Glen Phillips, Todd Nichols, and Dean Dinning - are still making new music and touring with the same spirit and independence that started it all, over three decades ago. This year marks a new milestone in their journey with the 30th&nbsp;anniversary of the 1994 platinum selling album&nbsp;Dulcinea.&nbsp;&nbsp;

After the success of&nbsp;fear&nbsp;(1991) the band re-teamed with producer Gavin MacKillop, to create a new body of work that would become their album&nbsp;Dulcinea,&nbsp;and sequestered themselves in a residential studio in Marin County, CA. Inspired by the sound that they had developed from their recent touring, the band tracked the record mostly live in a huge room lit by hundreds of candles. With minimal overdubs, the album comes across as an honest document of a stunning batch of songs, some of which had the benefit of having been already played in on the road.&nbsp;

It was also during these sessions that the band recorded its unique cover of "Rock and Roll All Night" for the&nbsp;Kiss My Ass:&nbsp;Classic Kiss Regrooved&nbsp;(1994) at the request of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, who loved it and said "it reminded him of Jackson Browne".&nbsp;

Dulcinea&nbsp;arrived in 1994 and was followed by a tour in which the band played over 80 headlining shows, with openers as diverse as Milla Jovovich and Hootie &amp; the Blowfish in their first national tours. The first single "Fall Down" (with a video directed by Samuel Bayer of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fame) spent 6 weeks at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. "Something's Always Wrong" was featured in the movie "Fear" and had a groundbreaking music video that put the band on the Home Shopping Network selling themselves to the lowest bidder. A highlight of the&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;era was playing the NOW rally in Washington, DC in April of 1995, a performance that put the band in front of a million people and was nationally broadcast.&nbsp;

Crediting their success to the unwavering support of their fans, Toad the Wet Sprocket are celebrating&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;throughout the year on tour – including a co-headline summer tour with the Gin Blossoms, a fall tour with Barenaked Ladies and additional headline dates in select markets.&nbsp;&nbsp;Limited edition commemorative&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;merchandise will be available at the band’s online store and on all tour dates, as well as a limited quantity of&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;on vinyl that will be a repressing of the original.

Dulcinea&nbsp;went on to sell over a million copies and was certified by the RIAA, giving the band its second platinum album in a row. Many songs from&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;are played in the band's live set every night on tour, and in 2023, "Fall Down" was featured on the Showtime series "Billions", with the song showing up on the Shazam charts the following week.&nbsp;

Throughout their career, Toad the Wet Sprocket has remained committed to creating music that is both meaningful and accessible. Their songs are filled with introspective lyrics, melodic guitars and vocal harmonies that have resonated for fans for decades.

Toad the Wet Sprocket first gained attention in the late 1980s with their debut album,&nbsp;Bread &amp; Circus, originally self-released on cassette in 1988. Their sophomore release,&nbsp;Pale, was recorded independently in 1989. Both records were released by Columbia Records, in 1989 and 1990 respectively.&nbsp;

Toad’s third studio album,&nbsp;Fear, followed in 1991 and included their multi-format iconic hit singles “All I Want” and "Walk on the Ocean”. It was certified RIAA Platinum and further solidified the band's popularity and mainstream success. In 1994,&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;followed.

In 1995 Toad released&nbsp;In Light Syrup, a collection of rarities that included the hit “Good Intentions”, which was featured on the Platinum-selling&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;soundtrack.&nbsp;

The band took a break in the late 1990s, with the members pursuing solo projects. However, they reunited in 2006 and have continued to perform together ever since. In 2013, they released their first album in 16 years,&nbsp;New Constellation.&nbsp;The album includes fan-favorite tracks “The Moment”, “California Wasted” and “Enough” that showcase the bands growth and versatility.&nbsp;

Starting Now&nbsp;(2021) marked a return to form for the band, with introspective lyrics, and signature harmonies. It well-received and showcased the band's signature sound while also exploring new sonic territories. Songs like “Transient Whales”, “Starting Now” and “Hold On” serve as core performance tracks at live shows and as fan favorites.&nbsp;

Toad's most recent album,&nbsp;All You Want, is a remastered greatest hits album and features the most recent single “Best of Me (2023)”, an alternative version to the album release cut of the track featuring Michael McDonald.&nbsp;

Throughout their career, Toad the Wet Sprocket has remained humble and grateful for the loyal support of their incredible fans.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is the fuel that inspires the band to continue creating music and performing live to this day.

More information, email list signups and updates may be found at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.toadthewetsprocket.com/">www.ToadTheWetSprocket.com</a>&nbsp;or on socials @ToadTheWetSprocket.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT JANE GATES.&nbsp;

READ MORE:&nbsp;<a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/9c740142-863b-46ac-96c9-5a064c3ae18c">Two Salina teens pronounced dead at scene of crash on Friday</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710779175622.jpeg" alt="Barenaked Ladies. Image courtesy Stiefel Theatre" />
 <figcaption>Barenaked Ladies. Image courtesy Stiefel Theatre</figcaption>
 </figure>SubmittedThe Stiefel Theatre in Salina is thrilled to announce its upcoming show,&nbsp;Barenaked Ladies with Toad The Wet Sprocket, on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m.Tickets start at $89 and are on sale Friday, March 22, @ noon.&nbsp;Buy in person at the Stiefel Theatre Box Office or online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stiefeltheatre.org/">www.stiefeltheatre.org</a>. 785-827-1998<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710779145306.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>After more than three decades as the lead singer and guitarist for&nbsp;Barenaked Ladies, Ed Robertson has a routine when it comes time to start writing songs for a new album. "I tend to get ideas while I'm driving up to my lake house," he says. "I record voice memos along the way, and then I listen back and try to make sense of them and mix and match the various ideas I've come up with. On a typical drive, I'm happy if I get six or seven — eight ideas would be a good drive."For this album," he continues, "on my first writing trip I had 21 different song ideas. I thought, 'Wow, this is really cool.' Then I sat down to write, and I thought if I could finish one of them — get the verses, get the bridge, get the chorus in one day — then I'll know this whole writing period is going to be good. And I finished eight songs. I sat down at 10 in the morning, and I looked up at 9:30 and I hadn't eaten, I hadn't moved from the writing table. It was exciting. I've never felt that before."The results mark a new chapter for a band that's sold more than 15 million albums, earned Grammy nominations and won multiple Juno Awards, and in 2018, were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.&nbsp;In Flight, BNL's eighteenth studio album, retains the dry wit and keen observation we expect from Robertson, bassist Jim Creeggan, keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn and drummer Tyler Stewart, but adds a strong sense of maturing and lessons learned."I think as I age, I get less self-conscious," says Robertson. "I had a goal to write simpler songs on this record, to not out-clever myself and be a little more direct, more emotionally present and honest. And when I listened to what I wrote, I heard what I've been talking about for the last couple of years — ruminations on gratitude, getting older, cancel culture. It was everything I've been thinking about, distilled into songs."While BNL's last album, 2021's&nbsp;Detour de Force, looked closely at the perils of contemporary, alternate reality media,&nbsp;In Flight&nbsp;offers a sense of joy and appreciation, exemplified in the first single, "Lovin' Life," in which they unironically sing "We're lovin' life/We love it so much that we wanna live it twice/We're lovin' life/We take it high, we take it low/We ride that rollercoaster anywhere it goes." (Robertson wrote the song with Better Than Ezra's Kevin Griffin and Steve Aiello of Thirty Second to Mars; elsewhere on the album, he co-wrote "I Am Asking You" with Donovan Woods)."It's very easy to get overwhelmed by the firehose of bad news that we're all pretty tuned into, and it is real," says Robertson. "But I think it's really important to remember to still be grateful. I guess I'm just trying to take in the negativity that surrounds us and learn about it and grow from it. 'Lovin' Life' is about experiencing the positivity, because that's there, too."He points to the recording of the song "Too Old" ("You don't scare me a bit/I'm too old for this shit") as a pivot point for&nbsp;In Flight. "The demo had this arpeggiated acoustic guitar and it was almost melancholy," he says. "It was pretty, but It made it a little more distant from the message. When we started jamming it in pre-production, it turned into this Tom Petty-ish, guitar driven thing, it had a little bite. That was the moment where we were just letting shit happen organically and it felt great."Even at this point in a legendary career, Barenaked Ladies were open to altering their work habits and finding ways to better serve the new songs. "Typically in the past, we've done all the guitar overdubs, then we go in and do percussion, then do all the keyboard parts," says Robertson. "With this record, we put up a song and said, 'What does it need?,' then put up the next song and finished song by song. So it demanded everyone's attention all the time, as opposed to just concentrating on their parts or the week where they're focusing on their instrument. That kept everybody invested and involved all the way through."Of course, a band known for hits like "One Week" and "If I Had $1,000,000" isn't going to put out an album without humor — or Canadian Content. Kevin Hearn presented the group with "See the Tower," a song telling the story of the structure that highlights the Toronto skyline. "It's got a kind of sentimental approach, in all the right ways," says Robertson. "It reminds me of a song on&nbsp;Sesame Street&nbsp;or a kid's book about the CN Tower."Hearn contributed three more songs to&nbsp;In Flight, including one about local Toronto legend "The Peace Lady" and a biting fantasy about a real place in New York City, "The Dream Hotel." Jim Creeggan co-wrote two of the tracks, adding the sweet devotion of "Just Wait" and "Wake Up" (on which he collaborated with Max Kerman of the Arkells).Robertson is confident that the album's more thoughtful songs, like "Waning Moon" and "Fifty for a While," will play just as well on stage as the comical material. "On the last tour, the songs that I thought we wouldn't even try live ended up being real highlights of the show," he says. "We ended up doing 'Man Made Lake' every night, and it was a real anchor point. 'Live Well' was another one — the most vulnerable, personal, raw, emotional songs. And it's always been like that, we've always had 'One Week,' but the flip side is the reflective nature of 'Pinch Me,' and our audience accepts that from us."With the song "One Night," Robertson even addresses this unique relationship BNL has with its fans. "We were trying to write something sexy that wasn't just about a steamy night between two consenting adults," he says, "but rather the magical connection that happens between a whole audience and a band. When it goes right — which it almost always does — for that 'One Night' it's a very intense connection."Barenaked Ladies have become an institution, with a passionately dedicated audience (enough for them to headline their own cruises and have an ice cream flavor named after them) and a constant flow of new fans (plenty of whom discover the band through their theme song to the endlessly popular&nbsp;The Big Bang Theory). Maybe it's just the passage of time, maybe the joy of getting back on the road after the COVID lockdown, but Ed Robertson has noticed a change in his own attitude which adjusted his tone on&nbsp;In Flight."I was talking to my daughter the other day," he says, "and I told her that there would have been a me in the past that was standing on stage going, 'Okay, seven more songs and then I get on the bus and go to the next city, and then it's only six more shows before the end of the tour, when I get to go home and be with my family.' Now I find myself looking out and going 'We sold out Red Rocks — again!' I feel very connected to how lucky we are that we still get to do this."I think this band is the underdog success story of the century," Robertson continues. "Show me another band with a 35-year career, 15 million records sold, number one hits worldwide, and has never been on the cover of any major music publication. We're a band that has committed to being who we are and what we are, and being as good as we can be — doing the best shows we can do, writing the best songs we can write — and we've done it for 35 years. I'm super proud of that."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710779214522.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Toad The Wet Sprocket - the trio of founding members Glen Phillips, Todd Nichols, and Dean Dinning - are still making new music and touring with the same spirit and independence that started it all, over three decades ago. This year marks a new milestone in their journey with the 30th&nbsp;anniversary of the 1994 platinum selling album&nbsp;Dulcinea.&nbsp;&nbsp;After the success of&nbsp;fear&nbsp;(1991) the band re-teamed with producer Gavin MacKillop, to create a new body of work that would become their album&nbsp;Dulcinea,&nbsp;and sequestered themselves in a residential studio in Marin County, CA. Inspired by the sound that they had developed from their recent touring, the band tracked the record mostly live in a huge room lit by hundreds of candles. With minimal overdubs, the album comes across as an honest document of a stunning batch of songs, some of which had the benefit of having been already played in on the road.&nbsp;It was also during these sessions that the band recorded its unique cover of "Rock and Roll All Night" for the&nbsp;Kiss My Ass:&nbsp;Classic Kiss Regrooved&nbsp;(1994) at the request of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, who loved it and said "it reminded him of Jackson Browne".&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;arrived in 1994 and was followed by a tour in which the band played over 80 headlining shows, with openers as diverse as Milla Jovovich and Hootie &amp; the Blowfish in their first national tours. The first single "Fall Down" (with a video directed by Samuel Bayer of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" fame) spent 6 weeks at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. "Something's Always Wrong" was featured in the movie "Fear" and had a groundbreaking music video that put the band on the Home Shopping Network selling themselves to the lowest bidder. A highlight of the&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;era was playing the NOW rally in Washington, DC in April of 1995, a performance that put the band in front of a million people and was nationally broadcast.&nbsp;Crediting their success to the unwavering support of their fans, Toad the Wet Sprocket are celebrating&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;throughout the year on tour – including a co-headline summer tour with the Gin Blossoms, a fall tour with Barenaked Ladies and additional headline dates in select markets.&nbsp;&nbsp;Limited edition commemorative&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;merchandise will be available at the band’s online store and on all tour dates, as well as a limited quantity of&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;on vinyl that will be a repressing of the original.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710779252457.png" alt="Toad the Wet Sprocket. Image courtesy Stiefel Theatre" />
 <figcaption>Toad the Wet Sprocket. Image courtesy Stiefel Theatre</figcaption>
 </figure>Dulcinea&nbsp;went on to sell over a million copies and was certified by the RIAA, giving the band its second platinum album in a row. Many songs from&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;are played in the band's live set every night on tour, and in 2023, "Fall Down" was featured on the Showtime series "Billions", with the song showing up on the Shazam charts the following week.&nbsp;Throughout their career, Toad the Wet Sprocket has remained committed to creating music that is both meaningful and accessible. Their songs are filled with introspective lyrics, melodic guitars and vocal harmonies that have resonated for fans for decades.Toad the Wet Sprocket first gained attention in the late 1980s with their debut album,&nbsp;Bread &amp; Circus, originally self-released on cassette in 1988. Their sophomore release,&nbsp;Pale, was recorded independently in 1989. Both records were released by Columbia Records, in 1989 and 1990 respectively.&nbsp;Toad’s third studio album,&nbsp;Fear, followed in 1991 and included their multi-format iconic hit singles “All I Want” and "Walk on the Ocean”. It was certified RIAA Platinum and further solidified the band's popularity and mainstream success. In 1994,&nbsp;Dulcinea&nbsp;followed.In 1995 Toad released&nbsp;In Light Syrup, a collection of rarities that included the hit “Good Intentions”, which was featured on the Platinum-selling&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;soundtrack.&nbsp;The band took a break in the late 1990s, with the members pursuing solo projects. However, they reunited in 2006 and have continued to perform together ever since. In 2013, they released their first album in 16 years,&nbsp;New Constellation.&nbsp;The album includes fan-favorite tracks “The Moment”, “California Wasted” and “Enough” that showcase the bands growth and versatility.&nbsp;Starting Now&nbsp;(2021) marked a return to form for the band, with introspective lyrics, and signature harmonies. It well-received and showcased the band's signature sound while also exploring new sonic territories. Songs like “Transient Whales”, “Starting Now” and “Hold On” serve as core performance tracks at live shows and as fan favorites.&nbsp;Toad's most recent album,&nbsp;All You Want, is a remastered greatest hits album and features the most recent single “Best of Me (2023)”, an alternative version to the album release cut of the track featuring Michael McDonald.&nbsp;Throughout their career, Toad the Wet Sprocket has remained humble and grateful for the loyal support of their incredible fans.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is the fuel that inspires the band to continue creating music and performing live to this day.More information, email list signups and updates may be found at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.toadthewetsprocket.com/">www.ToadTheWetSprocket.com</a>&nbsp;or on socials @ToadTheWetSprocket.FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT JANE GATES.&nbsp;READ MORE:&nbsp;<a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/9c740142-863b-46ac-96c9-5a064c3ae18c">Two Salina teens pronounced dead at scene of crash on Friday</a>

Barenaked Ladies with guest to perform at Stiefel Theatre in November

The upcoming Health Liberty Forum will feature Casey and Rachel Andre from Minneapolis, Kan., who own the small mushroom business <a href="https://www.shroom-mates.com/">Shroom-Mates</a>.

After the presentation, attendees will have the chance to participate in a Q&amp;A session. The meeting will be on Thursday, March 28, at 142 S. 7th St., in the first-floor meeting room.

The meeting will be free to attend, and donations will be accepted. The Liberty Forum invited Preppers, Sponsors and Patrons to fund the event. For more information, call 316-617-3501 and mention this event.&nbsp;

Sponsored by Independent Lifewave Brand Partners
The Granny Brigade
Kansans For Health Liberty,
Kansans for Health Freedom KSHF.org and
ChildrensHealthDefense.org

Health Liberty Forum events are posted on our Facebook and Telegram, our opt-in private
email list, and flyers are posted on community bulletin boards for area businesses.


Listen to our calls to KINA 910am radio on Coffee Talk 6 to 9 a.m. weekday mornings and
KSAL 1150am radio on Swap Shop 9:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday morning.
Radio programming subject to preemption by sports events.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710766756574.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By SALINA POSTThe upcoming Health Liberty Forum will feature Casey and Rachel Andre from Minneapolis, Kan., who own the small mushroom business <a href="https://www.shroom-mates.com/">Shroom-Mates</a>.After the presentation, attendees will have the chance to participate in a Q&amp;A session. The meeting will be on Thursday, March 28, at 142 S. 7th St., in the first-floor meeting room.The meeting will be free to attend, and donations will be accepted. The Liberty Forum invited Preppers, Sponsors and Patrons to fund the event. For more information, call 316-617-3501 and mention this event.&nbsp;Sponsored by Independent Lifewave Brand Partners
The Granny Brigade
Kansans For Health Liberty,
Kansans for Health Freedom KSHF.org and
ChildrensHealthDefense.orgHealth Liberty Forum events are posted on our Facebook and Telegram, our opt-in private
email list, and flyers are posted on community bulletin boards for area businesses.
Listen to our calls to KINA 910am radio on Coffee Talk 6 to 9 a.m. weekday mornings and
KSAL 1150am radio on Swap Shop 9:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday morning.
Radio programming subject to preemption by sports events.

A Community Health Seminar featuring Shroom-Mates: A Mushrooming Business

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>

Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games since ticket prices soared after the team won the championship in 2020.

So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack.

Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet, Bridget was trampled while shielding Gabriella in the chaos and Jason gave chest compressions to a man injured by gunfire. He believes it was Lyndell Mays,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-02-20/chiefs-shooting-charges-suspects-kansas-city-jackson-county-prosecutor-lyndell-mays-dominic-miller-second-degree-murder">one of two men charged</a>&nbsp;with second-degree felony murder.

“There’s never going to be a Valentine’s Day where I look back and I don’t think about it,” Gabriella said, “because that’s a day where we’re supposed to have fun and appreciate the people that we have.”

One month after the parade in which the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/gun-violence-data-public-health-experts-research-funds/">U.S. public health crisis</a>&nbsp;that is gun violence played out on live television, the Bartons are reeling from their role at its epicenter. They were just feet from 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed. Twenty-four other people were injured.

Although the Bartons aren’t included in that official victim number, they were traumatized, physically and emotionally, and pain permeates their lives: Bridget and Jason keep canceling plans to go out, opting instead to stay home together; Gabriella plans to join a boxing club instead of the dance team.

During this first month, Kansas City community leaders have weighed how to care for people caught in the bloody crossfire and how to divide more than $2 million donated to public funds for victims in the initial outpouring of grief.

The questions are far-reaching: How does a city compensate people for medical bills, recovery treatments, counseling, and lost wages? And what about those who have PTSD-like symptoms that could last years? How does a community identify and care for victims often overlooked in the first flush of reporting on a mass shooting: the injured?

The injured list could grow. Prosecutors and Kansas City police are mounting a legal case against four of the shooting suspects, and are encouraging additional victims to come forward.

“Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who suffered wounds from their trying to escape. A stampede occurred while people were trying to flee,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Anyone who “in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down, you were trampled, you sprained an ankle, you broke a bone.”

Meanwhile, people who took charge of raising money and providing services to care for the injured are wrestling with who gets the money — and who doesn’t. Due to large donations from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, some victims or their families will have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. Other victims may simply have their counseling covered.

The overall economic cost of U.S. firearm injuries is estimated by a recent&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2796678?guestAccessKey=55a622d7-8d12-4a34-886c-1f25eb5ced0a&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=092722">Harvard Medical School study</a>&nbsp;at $557 billion annually. Most of that — 88% — represented quality-of-life losses among those injured by firearms and their families. The JAMA-published study found that each nonfatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.

In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, as well-intentioned GoFundMe pages popped up to help victims, executives at United Way of Greater Kansas City gathered to devise a collective donation response. They came up with “three concentric circles of victims,” said Jessica Blubaugh, the United Way’s chief philanthropy officer, and launched the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>.

“There were folks that were obviously directly impacted by gunfire. Then the next circle out is folks that were impacted, not necessarily by gunshots, but by physical impact. So maybe they were trampled and maybe they tore a ligament or something because they were running away,” Blubaugh said. “Then third is folks that were just adjacent and/or bystanders that have a lot of trauma from all of this.”

Bridget Barton returned to Kansas City the day after the shooting to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack and to give a statement at police headquarters. Unbeknownst to her, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the police and fire chiefs had just finished a press conference outside the building. She was mobbed by the media assembled there — interviews that are now a blur.

“I don’t know how you guys do this every day,” she remembered telling a detective once she finally got inside.

The Bartons have been overwhelmed by well wishes from close friends and family as they navigate the trauma, almost to the point of exhaustion. Bridget took to social media to explain she wasn’t ignoring the messages, she’s just responding as she feels able — some days she can hardly look at her phone, she said.

A family friend bought new Barbie blankets for Gabriella and her friend after the ones they brought to the parade were lost or ruined. Bridget tried replacing the blankets herself at her local Walmart, but when she was bumped accidentally, it triggered a panic attack. She abandoned her cart and drove home.

“I’m trying to get my anxiety under control,” Bridget said.

That means therapy. Before the parade, she was already seeing a therapist and planning to begin eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a form of therapy associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the shooting is the first thing she wants to talk about in therapy.

Since Gabriella, an eighth grader, has returned to middle school, she has dealt with the compounding immaturity of adolescence: peers telling her to get over it, pointing finger guns at her, or even saying it should have been her who was shot. But her friends are checking on her and asking how she’s doing. She wishes more people would do the same for her friend, who took off running when the shooting started and avoided injury. Gabriella feels guilty about bringing her to what turned into a horrifying experience.

“We can tell her all day long, ‘It wasn’t your fault. She’s not your responsibility.’ Just like I can tell myself, ‘It wasn’t my fault or my responsibility,’” Bridget said. “But I still bawled on her mom’s shoulder telling her how sorry I was that I grabbed my kid first.”

The two girls have spent a lot of time talking since the shooting, which Gabriella said helps with her own stress. So does spending time with her dog and her lizard, putting on makeup, and listening to music — Tech N9ne’s performance was a highlight of the Super Bowl celebration for her.

In addition to the spark burns on Gabriella’s legs, when she fell to the concrete in the pandemonium she split open a burn wound on her stomach previously caused by a styling iron.

“When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and seeing everyone run,” Gabriella said of the wound.

It’s hard not to feel forgotten by the public, Bridget said. The shooting, especially its survivors, have largely faded from the headlines aside from court dates.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286094976.html">Two additional</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286245420.html">high-profile</a>&nbsp;shootings have occurred in the area since the parade. Doesn’t the community care, she wonders, that her family is still living with the fallout every day?

“I’m going to put this as plainly as possible. I’m f—ing pissed because my family went through something traumatic,” Bridget vented in a recent social media post. “I don’t really want anything other [than], ‘Your story matters, too, and we want to know how you’re doing.’ Have we gotten that? Abso-f—lutely not.”

Helped in part by celebrities like Swift and Kelce, donations for the family of Lopez-Galvan, the lone fatality, and other victims poured in immediately after the shootings. Swift and Kelce donated $100,000 each. With the help of an initial $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Way’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>&nbsp;took off, reaching $1 million in the first two weeks and sitting at $1.2 million now.

Six&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/kansas-city-parade-help">verified GoFundMe funds</a>&nbsp;were established. One solely for the Lopez-Galvan family has collected over $406,000. Smaller ones were started by a local college student and Swift fans. Churches have also stepped up, and one local coalition had raised $183,000, money set aside for Lopez-Galvan’s funeral, counseling services for five victims, and other medical bills from Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital, said Ray Jarrett, executive director of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://unitekc.org/">Unite KC</a>.

Meanwhile, those leading the efforts found models in other cities. The United Way’s Blubaugh called counterparts who’d responded to their own mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Newtown, Connecticut.

“The unfortunate reality is we have a cadre of communities across the country who have already faced tragedies like this,” Blubaugh said. “So there is an unfortunate protocol that is, sort of, already in place.”

#KCStrong monies could start being paid out by the end of March, Blubaugh said. Hundreds of people called the nonprofit’s 211 line, and the United Way is consulting with hospitals and law enforcement to verify victims and then offer services they may need, she said.

The range of needs is staggering — several people are still recovering at home, some are seeking counseling, and many weren’t even counted in the beginning. For instance, a plainclothes police officer was injured in the melee but is doing fine now, said Police Chief Stacey Graves.

Determining who is eligible for assistance was one of the first conversations United Way officials had when creating the fund. They prioritized three areas of focus: first were the wounded victims and their families, second was collaborating with organizations already helping victims in violence intervention and prevention and mental health services, and third were the first responders.

Specifically, the funds will be steered to cover medical bills, or lost wages for those who haven’t been able to work since the shootings, Blubaugh said. The goal is to work quickly to help people, she said, but also to spend the money in a judicious, strategic way.

“We don’t have a clear sightline of the entire landscape that we’re dealing with,” Blubaugh said. “Not only of how much money do we have to work with, but also, what is the landscape of need? And we need both of those things to be able to make those decisions.”

Firsthand experience of daily Kansas City violence

Jason used his lone remaining sick day to stay home with Bridget and Gabriella. An overnight automation technician, he is the family’s primary breadwinner.

“I can’t take off work, you know?” he said. “It happened. It sucked. But it’s time to move on.”

“He’s a guy’s guy,” Bridget interjected.

On Jason’s first night back at work, the sudden sound of falling dishes startled Bridget and Gabriella, sending them into each other’s arms crying.

“It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget said.

In a way, the shooting has brought the family closer. They’ve been through a lot recently. Jason survived a heart attack and cancer last year. Raising a teenager is never easy.

Bridget can appreciate that the bullet lodged in her backpack, narrowly missing her, and that Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks but she wasn’t shot.

Jason is grateful for another reason: It wasn’t a terrorist attack, as he initially feared. Instead, it fits into the type of gun violence he’d become accustomed to growing up in Kansas City, which recorded&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-12-28/kansas-city-matches-its-deadliest-year-they-dont-know-the-damage-it-does-to-the-families">its deadliest year</a>&nbsp;last year, although he’d never been this close to it before.

“This crap happens every single day,” he said. “The only difference is we were here for it.”

<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710635619692.png" alt=" The Barton family is not included in the official tally of 24 injured survivors of a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade in February. But Jason Barton; his wife, Bridget; and her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, are still reeling from their roles at its epicenter (Christopher Smith/KFF Health News)." />
 <figcaption> The Barton family is not included in the official tally of 24 injured survivors of a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade in February. But Jason Barton; his wife, Bridget; and her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, are still reeling from their roles at its epicenter (Christopher Smith/KFF Health News).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>Jason Barton didn’t want to attend the Super Bowl parade this year. He told a co-worker the night before that he worried about a mass shooting. But it was Valentine’s Day, his wife is a Kansas City Chiefs superfan, and he couldn’t afford to take her to games since ticket prices soared after the team won the championship in 2020.So Barton drove 50 miles from Osawatomie, Kansas, to downtown Kansas City with his wife, Bridget, her 13-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and Gabriella’s school friend. When they finally arrived home that night, they cleaned blood from Gabriella’s sneakers and found a bullet in Bridget’s backpack.Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet, Bridget was trampled while shielding Gabriella in the chaos and Jason gave chest compressions to a man injured by gunfire. He believes it was Lyndell Mays,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-02-20/chiefs-shooting-charges-suspects-kansas-city-jackson-county-prosecutor-lyndell-mays-dominic-miller-second-degree-murder">one of two men charged</a>&nbsp;with second-degree felony murder.“There’s never going to be a Valentine’s Day where I look back and I don’t think about it,” Gabriella said, “because that’s a day where we’re supposed to have fun and appreciate the people that we have.”One month after the parade in which the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/gun-violence-data-public-health-experts-research-funds/">U.S. public health crisis</a>&nbsp;that is gun violence played out on live television, the Bartons are reeling from their role at its epicenter. They were just feet from 43-year-old Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed. Twenty-four other people were injured.Although the Bartons aren’t included in that official victim number, they were traumatized, physically and emotionally, and pain permeates their lives: Bridget and Jason keep canceling plans to go out, opting instead to stay home together; Gabriella plans to join a boxing club instead of the dance team.During this first month, Kansas City community leaders have weighed how to care for people caught in the bloody crossfire and how to divide more than $2 million donated to public funds for victims in the initial outpouring of grief.The questions are far-reaching: How does a city compensate people for medical bills, recovery treatments, counseling, and lost wages? And what about those who have PTSD-like symptoms that could last years? How does a community identify and care for victims often overlooked in the first flush of reporting on a mass shooting: the injured?The injured list could grow. Prosecutors and Kansas City police are mounting a legal case against four of the shooting suspects, and are encouraging additional victims to come forward.“Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who suffered wounds from their trying to escape. A stampede occurred while people were trying to flee,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. Anyone who “in the fleeing of this event that maybe fell down, you were trampled, you sprained an ankle, you broke a bone.”Meanwhile, people who took charge of raising money and providing services to care for the injured are wrestling with who gets the money — and who doesn’t. Due to large donations from celebrities like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, some victims or their families will have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. Other victims may simply have their counseling covered.The overall economic cost of U.S. firearm injuries is estimated by a recent&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2796678?guestAccessKey=55a622d7-8d12-4a34-886c-1f25eb5ced0a&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=092722">Harvard Medical School study</a>&nbsp;at $557 billion annually. Most of that — 88% — represented quality-of-life losses among those injured by firearms and their families. The JAMA-published study found that each nonfatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, as well-intentioned GoFundMe pages popped up to help victims, executives at United Way of Greater Kansas City gathered to devise a collective donation response. They came up with “three concentric circles of victims,” said Jessica Blubaugh, the United Way’s chief philanthropy officer, and launched the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>.“There were folks that were obviously directly impacted by gunfire. Then the next circle out is folks that were impacted, not necessarily by gunshots, but by physical impact. So maybe they were trampled and maybe they tore a ligament or something because they were running away,” Blubaugh said. “Then third is folks that were just adjacent and/or bystanders that have a lot of trauma from all of this.”<h2>PTSD, panic, and the echo of gunfire</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710635577719.png" alt=" A memorial for Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and Johnson County mother, sits outside Union Station days after a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade killed Lopez-Galvan and wounded 22 others (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> A memorial for Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ and Johnson County mother, sits outside Union Station days after a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII victory parade killed Lopez-Galvan and wounded 22 others (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Bridget Barton returned to Kansas City the day after the shooting to turn in the bullet she found in her backpack and to give a statement at police headquarters. Unbeknownst to her, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the police and fire chiefs had just finished a press conference outside the building. She was mobbed by the media assembled there — interviews that are now a blur.“I don’t know how you guys do this every day,” she remembered telling a detective once she finally got inside.The Bartons have been overwhelmed by well wishes from close friends and family as they navigate the trauma, almost to the point of exhaustion. Bridget took to social media to explain she wasn’t ignoring the messages, she’s just responding as she feels able — some days she can hardly look at her phone, she said.A family friend bought new Barbie blankets for Gabriella and her friend after the ones they brought to the parade were lost or ruined. Bridget tried replacing the blankets herself at her local Walmart, but when she was bumped accidentally, it triggered a panic attack. She abandoned her cart and drove home.“I’m trying to get my anxiety under control,” Bridget said.That means therapy. Before the parade, she was already seeing a therapist and planning to begin eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a form of therapy associated with treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the shooting is the first thing she wants to talk about in therapy.Since Gabriella, an eighth grader, has returned to middle school, she has dealt with the compounding immaturity of adolescence: peers telling her to get over it, pointing finger guns at her, or even saying it should have been her who was shot. But her friends are checking on her and asking how she’s doing. She wishes more people would do the same for her friend, who took off running when the shooting started and avoided injury. Gabriella feels guilty about bringing her to what turned into a horrifying experience.“We can tell her all day long, ‘It wasn’t your fault. She’s not your responsibility.’ Just like I can tell myself, ‘It wasn’t my fault or my responsibility,’” Bridget said. “But I still bawled on her mom’s shoulder telling her how sorry I was that I grabbed my kid first.”The two girls have spent a lot of time talking since the shooting, which Gabriella said helps with her own stress. So does spending time with her dog and her lizard, putting on makeup, and listening to music — Tech N9ne’s performance was a highlight of the Super Bowl celebration for her.In addition to the spark burns on Gabriella’s legs, when she fell to the concrete in the pandemonium she split open a burn wound on her stomach previously caused by a styling iron.“When I see that, I just picture my mom trying to protect me and seeing everyone run,” Gabriella said of the wound.It’s hard not to feel forgotten by the public, Bridget said. The shooting, especially its survivors, have largely faded from the headlines aside from court dates.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286094976.html">Two additional</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article286245420.html">high-profile</a>&nbsp;shootings have occurred in the area since the parade. Doesn’t the community care, she wonders, that her family is still living with the fallout every day?“I’m going to put this as plainly as possible. I’m f—ing pissed because my family went through something traumatic,” Bridget vented in a recent social media post. “I don’t really want anything other [than], ‘Your story matters, too, and we want to know how you’re doing.’ Have we gotten that? Abso-f—lutely not.”<h2>‘What is the landscape of need?’</h2>Helped in part by celebrities like Swift and Kelce, donations for the family of Lopez-Galvan, the lone fatality, and other victims poured in immediately after the shootings. Swift and Kelce donated $100,000 each. With the help of an initial $200,000 donation from the Kansas City Chiefs, the United Way’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://give.unitedwaygkc.org/p/kcstrong">#KCStrong campaign</a>&nbsp;took off, reaching $1 million in the first two weeks and sitting at $1.2 million now.Six&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/kansas-city-parade-help">verified GoFundMe funds</a>&nbsp;were established. One solely for the Lopez-Galvan family has collected over $406,000. Smaller ones were started by a local college student and Swift fans. Churches have also stepped up, and one local coalition had raised $183,000, money set aside for Lopez-Galvan’s funeral, counseling services for five victims, and other medical bills from Children’s Mercy Kansas City hospital, said Ray Jarrett, executive director of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://unitekc.org/">Unite KC</a>.Meanwhile, those leading the efforts found models in other cities. The United Way’s Blubaugh called counterparts who’d responded to their own mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and Newtown, Connecticut.“The unfortunate reality is we have a cadre of communities across the country who have already faced tragedies like this,” Blubaugh said. “So there is an unfortunate protocol that is, sort of, already in place.”#KCStrong monies could start being paid out by the end of March, Blubaugh said. Hundreds of people called the nonprofit’s 211 line, and the United Way is consulting with hospitals and law enforcement to verify victims and then offer services they may need, she said.The range of needs is staggering — several people are still recovering at home, some are seeking counseling, and many weren’t even counted in the beginning. For instance, a plainclothes police officer was injured in the melee but is doing fine now, said Police Chief Stacey Graves.Determining who is eligible for assistance was one of the first conversations United Way officials had when creating the fund. They prioritized three areas of focus: first were the wounded victims and their families, second was collaborating with organizations already helping victims in violence intervention and prevention and mental health services, and third were the first responders.Specifically, the funds will be steered to cover medical bills, or lost wages for those who haven’t been able to work since the shootings, Blubaugh said. The goal is to work quickly to help people, she said, but also to spend the money in a judicious, strategic way.“We don’t have a clear sightline of the entire landscape that we’re dealing with,” Blubaugh said. “Not only of how much money do we have to work with, but also, what is the landscape of need? And we need both of those things to be able to make those decisions.”<h2>Firsthand experience of daily Kansas City violence</h2>Jason used his lone remaining sick day to stay home with Bridget and Gabriella. An overnight automation technician, he is the family’s primary breadwinner.“I can’t take off work, you know?” he said. “It happened. It sucked. But it’s time to move on.”“He’s a guy’s guy,” Bridget interjected.On Jason’s first night back at work, the sudden sound of falling dishes startled Bridget and Gabriella, sending them into each other’s arms crying.“It’s just those moments of flashbacks that are kicking our butts,” Bridget said.In a way, the shooting has brought the family closer. They’ve been through a lot recently. Jason survived a heart attack and cancer last year. Raising a teenager is never easy.Bridget can appreciate that the bullet lodged in her backpack, narrowly missing her, and that Gabriella’s legs were burned by sparks but she wasn’t shot.Jason is grateful for another reason: It wasn’t a terrorist attack, as he initially feared. Instead, it fits into the type of gun violence he’d become accustomed to growing up in Kansas City, which recorded&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-12-28/kansas-city-matches-its-deadliest-year-they-dont-know-the-damage-it-does-to-the-families">its deadliest year</a>&nbsp;last year, although he’d never been this close to it before.“This crap happens every single day,” he said. “The only difference is we were here for it.”<a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.

They were injured at the KC Super Bowl rally shooting. Now they feel forgotten

Vernon A. Chavey January 26, 1938 ~ March 12, 2024

Vernon A. Chavey, age 86, entered into rest on March 12, 2024, at the Park Villa Nursing Home in Clyde, Kansas.He was born on January 26, 1938, in rural St. Joseph, Kansas to Bernard and Helen (Tesmer) Chavey.

Vernon attended grade school in the Como School District.

Vernon grew up on the family farm helping with all the family farm daily chores.&nbsp;&nbsp;He also worked at the Cactus Club in the Kitchen.

He was a member of the St. John The Baptist Catholic Church, Clyde, and a past member of St. Joseph Catholic Church.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vernon was a devout Catholic all his life.&nbsp;

Vernon enjoyed singing at the St. Joseph Christmas in the country celebration each year.&nbsp;&nbsp;He also loved planting and taking care of his garden and offering his fruits of labor to the community.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vernon also loved going to the local Rodeo’s and especially listening to country music.&nbsp;&nbsp;One of his cherished past times was visiting with family and friends.

Vernon is survived by his brother, Gerald Chavey, three nieces, April Chavey Walker (Jeff Eakins), Coleen Jackson, Lana Cozad (Bob), nephews, Jim (Jackie), John (Cindy) and Rick Chavey, several great nieces and nephews, cousins and a host of friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Bernard and Helen, a brother, Louis Chavey (Joy), a sister-in-law, Ima Jean Chavey.

A parish vigil/rosary service will be prayed on Sunday, March 17, 2024, at the Chaput Mortuary in Clyde starting at 5:00 p.m.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:00 a.m., on Monday, March 18, 2024, at the St. John The Baptist Catholic Church, Clyde, Kansas with Fr. Steven Heina officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, St. Joseph, Kansas.&nbsp;&nbsp;A funeral luncheon will be served after the graveside back at the Church Fellowship Hall.

On behalf of Vernon’s family they would like to especially thank the Park Villa Nursing Home and Meadowlark Hospice for all their support, comfort and help with Vernon while under their care.

Memorial contributions may be given to St. John The Baptist Catholic Church or Park Villa Nursing Home, both of Clyde in care of Chaput Mortuary, PO Box 291, Clyde, Kansas 66938.&nbsp;&nbsp;For online condolences please visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chaputbuoy.com">www.chaputbuoy.com</a>

READ MORE:&nbsp;<a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/e75818b1-80eb-49fc-a472-5e13faca548b">Propane Central celebrates retirement for 26-year employee</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710515899658.jpeg" alt="Vernon A. Chavey" />
 <figcaption>Vernon A. Chavey</figcaption>
 </figure>Vernon A. Chavey January 26, 1938 ~ March 12, 2024Vernon A. Chavey, age 86, entered into rest on March 12, 2024, at the Park Villa Nursing Home in Clyde, Kansas.He was born on January 26, 1938, in rural St. Joseph, Kansas to Bernard and Helen (Tesmer) Chavey.Vernon attended grade school in the Como School District.Vernon grew up on the family farm helping with all the family farm daily chores.&nbsp;&nbsp;He also worked at the Cactus Club in the Kitchen.He was a member of the St. John The Baptist Catholic Church, Clyde, and a past member of St. Joseph Catholic Church.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vernon was a devout Catholic all his life.&nbsp;Vernon enjoyed singing at the St. Joseph Christmas in the country celebration each year.&nbsp;&nbsp;He also loved planting and taking care of his garden and offering his fruits of labor to the community.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vernon also loved going to the local Rodeo’s and especially listening to country music.&nbsp;&nbsp;One of his cherished past times was visiting with family and friends.Vernon is survived by his brother, Gerald Chavey, three nieces, April Chavey Walker (Jeff Eakins), Coleen Jackson, Lana Cozad (Bob), nephews, Jim (Jackie), John (Cindy) and Rick Chavey, several great nieces and nephews, cousins and a host of friends.He was preceded in death by his parents, Bernard and Helen, a brother, Louis Chavey (Joy), a sister-in-law, Ima Jean Chavey.A parish vigil/rosary service will be prayed on Sunday, March 17, 2024, at the Chaput Mortuary in Clyde starting at 5:00 p.m.A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:00 a.m., on Monday, March 18, 2024, at the St. John The Baptist Catholic Church, Clyde, Kansas with Fr. Steven Heina officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, St. Joseph, Kansas.&nbsp;&nbsp;A funeral luncheon will be served after the graveside back at the Church Fellowship Hall.On behalf of Vernon’s family they would like to especially thank the Park Villa Nursing Home and Meadowlark Hospice for all their support, comfort and help with Vernon while under their care.Memorial contributions may be given to St. John The Baptist Catholic Church or Park Villa Nursing Home, both of Clyde in care of Chaput Mortuary, PO Box 291, Clyde, Kansas 66938.&nbsp;&nbsp;For online condolences please visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chaputbuoy.com">www.chaputbuoy.com</a>READ MORE:&nbsp;<a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/e75818b1-80eb-49fc-a472-5e13faca548b">Propane Central celebrates retirement for 26-year employee</a>

Vernon A. Chavey

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The father of a Michigan school shooter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, a second conviction against the teen’s parents who were accused of failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to address acute signs of his mental turmoil.

The jury verdict means James Crumbley has joined Jennifer Crumbley as a cause of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/oxford-high-school-shooting">killing of four students</a>&nbsp;at Oxford High School in 2021, even without pulling the trigger.

They had separate trials as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oxford-high-school-shooting-shootings-education-violence-crime-31b054a2e403275f119b5e919f7fbc43">first U.S. parents to be charged</a>&nbsp;in a mass school shooting committed by their child. Jennifer Crumbley was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oxford-high-school-mother-charged-01f336607a496c5f9ff0cb3a7434d073">convicted of involuntary manslaughter in February</a>.

The verdicts — one each for the four victims — were read around 7:15 p.m. at the end of a full day of deliberations in Oakland County court.

James Crumbley, 47, who heard the outcome through headphones because of a hearing problem, shook his head from side to side as the jury foreman said “guilty.”

Family of some of the fallen students wept quietly and gripped each other's hands in the second row of the courtroom.

Later at a news conference, county prosecutor Karen McDonald stood next to them and praised their “unwavering courage” through extraordinary tragedy and grief.

“This verdict does not bring back their children, but it does mark a moment of accountability and will hopefully be another step to address and end gun violence,” McDonald said.

Defense attorney Mariell Lehman said James Crumbley “obviously feels terrible” about what happened at the school. He and his wife each face a possible minimum sentence of as much as 10 years in prison when they return to court April 9.

“While we are disappointed with the verdict, we know that the jury had a very difficult task in front of them,” Lehman told The Associated Press.

Prosecutors focused on two key themes at the trial: the parents’ response to a morbid drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment a few hours before the shooting, and the teen’s access to a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun purchased by James Crumbley only four days earlier.

Ethan, 15, made a ghastly drawing of a gun and a wounded man on a math assignment and added disturbing phrases, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. My life is useless.”

But James and Jennifer Crumbley declined to take Ethan home following a brief meeting at the school, and staff didn’t demand it. A counselor, concerned about suicidal ideations,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oxford-school-shooting-james-crumbley-4156bb0b1fc0596e03f872a4f9972af0">told them to seek help for the boy within 48 hours.</a>

Ethan had told counselor Shawn Hopkins that he was sad over the death of his dog and grandmother and the loss of a friend who had abruptly moved away. He said the drawing was simply his jottings for a video game and that he wasn’t planning to commit violence.

Neither he, nor his parents, told school officials about the gun they had just bought, according to trial testimony.

Hopkins had hoped Ethan would spend the day with his parents. But when that was ruled out, the counselor felt the teen would probably be safer around others at school.

Ethan later pulled the Sig Sauer from his backpack and began shooting that same day, killing Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Tate Myre, 16. No one had checked the bag, though a school administrator had joked about its heaviness.

“James Crumbley is not on trial for what his son did,” McDonald told the jury Wednesday. “James Crumbley is on trial for what he did and for what he didn’t do.”

He “doesn’t get a pass because somebody else” actually pulled the trigger, she said.

Hopkins told the jury that James Crumbley showed empathy toward his son during the meeting about the drawing, but took no additional action.

When James Crumbley heard about the shooting, he rushed home from his DoorDash job and looked for the gun.

“I think my son took the gun,” he said in a frantic 911 call.

Investigators found an empty gun case and empty ammunition box on the parents’ bed. A cable that could have locked the gun was still in a package, unopened.

Ethan told a judge when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pontiac-michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-crime-shootings-ff69e26f96bb07af5dcb76bddc650bb4">he pleaded guilty</a>&nbsp;to murder and terrorism that the gun was not locked when he stuffed it in his backpack before school.

Lehman, the defense lawyer, tried to emphasize to jurors that James Crumbley did not consent to any gun access by his son.

“He did not know he had to protect others from his son,” she said. “He did not know that it was reasonably foreseeable that his son would commit these offenses. He had no idea what his son was planning to do.”

There was no testimony from experts about Ethan’s mental health, and no records were introduced. The boy’s lawyers said before trial that he would invoke his right to remain silent if called to testify.

But the judge allowed the jury to see excerpts from the teen’s handwritten journal.

“I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the ... school,” Ethan wrote. “I want help but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help.”

Now 17, he is serving a life sentence with no chance for parole.

After Judge Cheryl Matthews lifted a gag order that had prevented lawyers from speaking to reporters, Jennifer Crumbley's attorney Shannon Smith declined to comment Thursday night.

“We believe the victims, their families, and the community need and deserve the space and time to begin healing from this tragedy,” Smith said on Facebook.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638621716369.png" alt="James Crumbley as shown in his 2021 booking&nbsp; photo from Oakland County, Michigan" />
 <figcaption>James Crumbley as shown in his 2021 booking&nbsp; photo from Oakland County, Michigan</figcaption>
 </figure>PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The father of a Michigan school shooter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, a second conviction against the teen’s parents who were accused of failing to secure a gun at home and doing nothing to address acute signs of his mental turmoil.The jury verdict means James Crumbley has joined Jennifer Crumbley as a cause of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/oxford-high-school-shooting">killing of four students</a>&nbsp;at Oxford High School in 2021, even without pulling the trigger.They had separate trials as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oxford-high-school-shooting-shootings-education-violence-crime-31b054a2e403275f119b5e919f7fbc43">first U.S. parents to be charged</a>&nbsp;in a mass school shooting committed by their child. Jennifer Crumbley was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oxford-high-school-mother-charged-01f336607a496c5f9ff0cb3a7434d073">convicted of involuntary manslaughter in February</a>.The verdicts — one each for the four victims — were read around 7:15 p.m. at the end of a full day of deliberations in Oakland County court.James Crumbley, 47, who heard the outcome through headphones because of a hearing problem, shook his head from side to side as the jury foreman said “guilty.”Family of some of the fallen students wept quietly and gripped each other's hands in the second row of the courtroom.Later at a news conference, county prosecutor Karen McDonald stood next to them and praised their “unwavering courage” through extraordinary tragedy and grief.“This verdict does not bring back their children, but it does mark a moment of accountability and will hopefully be another step to address and end gun violence,” McDonald said.Defense attorney Mariell Lehman said James Crumbley “obviously feels terrible” about what happened at the school. He and his wife each face a possible minimum sentence of as much as 10 years in prison when they return to court April 9.“While we are disappointed with the verdict, we know that the jury had a very difficult task in front of them,” Lehman told The Associated Press.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638621694054.png" alt="Jennifer Crumbley as shown in his 2021 booking&nbsp; photo from Oakland County, Michigan" />
 <figcaption>Jennifer Crumbley as shown in his 2021 booking&nbsp; photo from Oakland County, Michigan</figcaption>
 </figure>Prosecutors focused on two key themes at the trial: the parents’ response to a morbid drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment a few hours before the shooting, and the teen’s access to a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun purchased by James Crumbley only four days earlier.Ethan, 15, made a ghastly drawing of a gun and a wounded man on a math assignment and added disturbing phrases, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. My life is useless.”But James and Jennifer Crumbley declined to take Ethan home following a brief meeting at the school, and staff didn’t demand it. A counselor, concerned about suicidal ideations,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oxford-school-shooting-james-crumbley-4156bb0b1fc0596e03f872a4f9972af0">told them to seek help for the boy within 48 hours.</a>Ethan had told counselor Shawn Hopkins that he was sad over the death of his dog and grandmother and the loss of a friend who had abruptly moved away. He said the drawing was simply his jottings for a video game and that he wasn’t planning to commit violence.Neither he, nor his parents, told school officials about the gun they had just bought, according to trial testimony.Hopkins had hoped Ethan would spend the day with his parents. But when that was ruled out, the counselor felt the teen would probably be safer around others at school.Ethan later pulled the Sig Sauer from his backpack and began shooting that same day, killing Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Tate Myre, 16. No one had checked the bag, though a school administrator had joked about its heaviness.“James Crumbley is not on trial for what his son did,” McDonald told the jury Wednesday. “James Crumbley is on trial for what he did and for what he didn’t do.”He “doesn’t get a pass because somebody else” actually pulled the trigger, she said.Hopkins told the jury that James Crumbley showed empathy toward his son during the meeting about the drawing, but took no additional action.When James Crumbley heard about the shooting, he rushed home from his DoorDash job and looked for the gun.“I think my son took the gun,” he said in a frantic 911 call.Investigators found an empty gun case and empty ammunition box on the parents’ bed. A cable that could have locked the gun was still in a package, unopened.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638551635768.png" alt="Ethan Crumbley as shown in his 2021 booking&nbsp; photo from Oakland County, Michigan" />
 <figcaption>Ethan Crumbley as shown in his 2021 booking&nbsp; photo from Oakland County, Michigan</figcaption>
 </figure>Ethan told a judge when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pontiac-michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-crime-shootings-ff69e26f96bb07af5dcb76bddc650bb4">he pleaded guilty</a>&nbsp;to murder and terrorism that the gun was not locked when he stuffed it in his backpack before school.Lehman, the defense lawyer, tried to emphasize to jurors that James Crumbley did not consent to any gun access by his son.“He did not know he had to protect others from his son,” she said. “He did not know that it was reasonably foreseeable that his son would commit these offenses. He had no idea what his son was planning to do.”There was no testimony from experts about Ethan’s mental health, and no records were introduced. The boy’s lawyers said before trial that he would invoke his right to remain silent if called to testify.But the judge allowed the jury to see excerpts from the teen’s handwritten journal.“I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the ... school,” Ethan wrote. “I want help but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help.”Now 17, he is serving a life sentence with no chance for parole.After Judge Cheryl Matthews lifted a gag order that had prevented lawyers from speaking to reporters, Jennifer Crumbley's attorney Shannon Smith declined to comment Thursday night.“We believe the victims, their families, and the community need and deserve the space and time to begin healing from this tragedy,” Smith said on Facebook.___