Mowery Clinic has announced the hiring of nurse practitioners Ashley Forshee, APRN, and Amy Radatz, APRN, for the Mowery Walk-In Clinic.

Forshee graduated from Simmons University with a master’s degree in nursing, and is board-certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She joins Mowery Clinic with ten years of experience as a nurse before returning to school to become a nurse practitioner.

“I am looking forward to working with the Mowery team and having the vast array of specialists available to collaboratively meet the patient’s health care needs. I strive to be a positive part of my patient’s lives by working with them to improve their whole body health, so they can have the best opportunity to have the quality of health that they desire,” said Forshee.

Radatz graduated from Graceland University with a master’s degree in nursing. She is board-certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She joins Mowery Clinic with seven years of experience as a registered nurse before returning to school for a master’s degree.

“I really enjoy interacting with patients, learning who they are and how we, as medical professionals, can help them. It is an honor to be trusted by my patients and it’s fulfilling to assist them in achieving the highest level of well-being. My goal has always been to help better their health with my education and leave a positive impact in their lives,” said Radatz.

“Ashley and Amy are excellent nurse practitioners. They are knowledgeable and really take the time to listen to their patient’s concerns. Our team at the walk-in clinic is a very tight knit group, and both of these practitioners make great additions to the team.” said Todd Smith, APRN.

Mowery Walk-In Clinic is open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m.-noon.

Individuals do not need to be an established patient at Mowery Clinic to utilize the Walk-In Clinic. No appointment is necessary. For more information visit <a href="http://moweryurgentcare.com">moweryurgentcare.com</a> or call (785) 827-7261.

Mowery Clinic has announced the hiring of nurse practitioners Ashley Forshee, APRN, and Amy Radatz, APRN, for the Mowery Walk-In Clinic.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579832802412.jpeg" alt="Ashley Forshee. Photos courtesy Mowery&nbsp; Clinic" />
 <figcaption>Ashley Forshee. Photos courtesy Mowery&nbsp; Clinic</figcaption>
 </figure>Forshee graduated from Simmons University with a master’s degree in nursing, and is board-certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She joins Mowery Clinic with ten years of experience as a nurse before returning to school to become a nurse practitioner.“I am looking forward to working with the Mowery team and having the vast array of specialists available to collaboratively meet the patient’s health care needs. I strive to be a positive part of my patient’s lives by working with them to improve their whole body health, so they can have the best opportunity to have the quality of health that they desire,” said Forshee.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579832912893.jpeg" alt="Amy Radatz" />
 <figcaption>Amy Radatz</figcaption>
 </figure>Radatz graduated from Graceland University with a master’s degree in nursing. She is board-certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She joins Mowery Clinic with seven years of experience as a registered nurse before returning to school for a master’s degree.“I really enjoy interacting with patients, learning who they are and how we, as medical professionals, can help them. It is an honor to be trusted by my patients and it’s fulfilling to assist them in achieving the highest level of well-being. My goal has always been to help better their health with my education and leave a positive impact in their lives,” said Radatz.“Ashley and Amy are excellent nurse practitioners. They are knowledgeable and really take the time to listen to their patient’s concerns. Our team at the walk-in clinic is a very tight knit group, and both of these practitioners make great additions to the team.” said Todd Smith, APRN.Mowery Walk-In Clinic is open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m.-noon.Individuals do not need to be an established patient at Mowery Clinic to utilize the Walk-In Clinic. No appointment is necessary. For more information visit <a href="http://moweryurgentcare.com">moweryurgentcare.com</a> or call (785) 827-7261.

Mowery Clinic welcomes two nurse practitioners

WASHINGTON (AP) — The challenge is becoming increasingly clear for House Democrats prosecuting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/Trumpimpeachment">President Donald Trump’s impeachment case</a>&nbsp;as the Senate convenes for another day of arguments in the landmark trial.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Click <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?468376-1/senate-impeachment-trial-day-4">here to watch</a>

The evidence confronting Trump becomes less compelling when presented again and again, day after day, as Democrats try to convince not just fidgety senators but an American public deeply divided over the Republican president in&nbsp;<a href="https://interactives.ap.org/2020-candidates/" target="_blank">an election year</a>.

As the Senate gavels in Thursday, the Democrats are one-third of the way through the 24 hours allotted to make their case.

The team led by Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of House Intelligence Committee, constructed what they hoped was a gripping account of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/273e46e2fa324eb9ba5d69ab2a2c69cb">Trump’s political pressure on Ukraine</a>&nbsp;and attempt to cover up the “corrupt scheme” central to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/9b96e6d47cfc7c8fa0288bf040307ede">the charges</a>. But the limits are apparent. Prosecutors must rely on the same loops of videotaped testimony — ambassadors, national security officials and even the president himself — after Trump’s GOP Senate allies blocked new witnesses.

Once reluctant to take on impeachment during an election year, Democrats are now marching toward a decision by the Senate that the American public also will judge.

“We’re trying this case to two juries — the Senate and the American people,” Schiff acknowledged. “The American people are watching. The American people are listening. And they do have an open mind.”

Trump blasted the proceedings in a Thursday morning tweet, declaring them the “Most unfair &amp; corrupt hearing in Congressional history!”

House Democrats&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/0756fda2b5143891c5da1c6897001cee">impeached Trump</a>&nbsp;last month, arguing he abused his office by asking Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/94fdeaddc6b34c02b97278674b87541e">withholding crucial military aid</a>. They also charged him with obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe. Republicans have defended Trump’s actions as appropriate and cast the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken the president in the midst of his reelection campaign.

Campaigning in Iowa, Biden stood by the effort to remove Trump from office.

“People ask the question, ‘Isn’t the president going to be stronger and harder to beat if he survives this?’ Yes, probably. But Congress has no choice,” he said. Senators must cast their votes and “live with that in history.”

Each side has up to three days to present its case. After the House prosecutors finish, likely Friday, the president’s lawyers will launch their 24 hours. It’s unclear how much time they will actually take, but Trump’s team promises not only to defend the president but to take apart the Democrats’ case. The Senate is expected to take only Sunday off and push into next week.

“There’s a lot of things I’d like to rebut,” said Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow at the Capitol, “and we will rebut.”

After that senators will face the question of whether they do, or do not, want to call witnesses to testify.

On the first day of opening arguments, Schiff appealed to senators not to be “cynical” about politics, but to draw on the intent of the nation’s Founding Fathers in providing the remedy of impeachment and removal. He spoke directly to Republicans to join in voting to oust Trump from office to “protect our democracy.”

Holding the room proved difficult. Most senators sat at their desks throughout, as the rules stipulate, though some stretched their legs, standing behind the desks or against the back wall of the chamber. Sometimes they yawned. Republicans sometimes quietly smirked at the presentation from Schiff and the lesser-known House Democrats prosecuting the case.

Nearing nine long hours of arguments, the empty seats became glaringly apparent. Sen. Dianne Feinstein D-Calif., was under the weather and left early. Some lawmakers dashed down the hall to appear on television. Visitors thinned from the galleries, one briefly interrupting in protest and being removed by Capitol police.

GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina told reporters he was “hearing exactly what they said yesterday.... nothing new whatsoever.”

But another Republican, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, acknowledged that the case against the president is probably new information for most of them. ”’Nine out of 10 senators will tell you that they have not read the transcript of the proceedings of the House. And the 10th senator who says he has is lying.”

The impeachment trial is set against the backdrop of the 2020 election. All four senators who are Democratic presidential candidates are off the campaign trail, seated as jurors.

Several GOP senators said Wednesday they’d seen no evidence to support the allegations against Trump even though, just 24 hours earlier, they had rejected subpoenas for additional witnesses as well as documents. Democrats, meanwhile, described the evidence against the president as overwhelming but said senators had a duty to gather more.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/06eb66d980777296f8509c154107c28f">new poll</a>&nbsp;from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%. But a sizable percentage, 14%, said they didn’t know enough to have an opinion.

One issue with wide agreement: Trump should allow top aides to appear as witnesses at the trial. About 7 in 10 said so, including majorities of Republicans and Democrats, according to the poll.

The strategy of more witnesses, though, seemed all but settled. Republicans rejected Democratic efforts to get Trump aides including former national security adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, to testify in back-to-back votes earlier this week.

Senators were likely to repeat that rejection next week, shutting out any chance of new testimony.

Some Republicans expressed disdain for it all. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa spoke sarcastically about how excited she was to hear the “overwhelming evidence” the House Democrats promised against Trump.

“And once we’ve heard that overwhelming evidence,” she said, raising her voice mockingly, “I don’t know that we’ll need to see additional witnesses, but let’s hear about that overwhelming evidence.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer bemoaned the limits on witnesses, saying Wednesday the impeachment trial “begins with a cloud hanging over it, a cloud of unfairness.”

Republicans remained eager for a swift trial. Yet Trump’s legal team passed on an opportunity to file a motion to dismiss the case on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that there were not enough Republican votes to support it.

The White House legal team, in its court filings and presentations, has not disputed Trump’s actions. But the lawyers insist the president did nothing wrong.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579800882293.png" alt="House impeachment manager Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) presents arguments in the Trump impeachment trial" />
 <figcaption>House impeachment manager Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) presents arguments in the Trump impeachment trial</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The challenge is becoming increasingly clear for House Democrats prosecuting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/Trumpimpeachment">President Donald Trump’s impeachment case</a>&nbsp;as the Senate convenes for another day of arguments in the landmark trial.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Click <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?468376-1/senate-impeachment-trial-day-4">here to watch</a>The evidence confronting Trump becomes less compelling when presented again and again, day after day, as Democrats try to convince not just fidgety senators but an American public deeply divided over the Republican president in&nbsp;<a href="https://interactives.ap.org/2020-candidates/" target="_blank">an election year</a>.As the Senate gavels in Thursday, the Democrats are one-third of the way through the 24 hours allotted to make their case.The team led by Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of House Intelligence Committee, constructed what they hoped was a gripping account of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/273e46e2fa324eb9ba5d69ab2a2c69cb">Trump’s political pressure on Ukraine</a>&nbsp;and attempt to cover up the “corrupt scheme” central to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/9b96e6d47cfc7c8fa0288bf040307ede">the charges</a>. But the limits are apparent. Prosecutors must rely on the same loops of videotaped testimony — ambassadors, national security officials and even the president himself — after Trump’s GOP Senate allies blocked new witnesses.Once reluctant to take on impeachment during an election year, Democrats are now marching toward a decision by the Senate that the American public also will judge.“We’re trying this case to two juries — the Senate and the American people,” Schiff acknowledged. “The American people are watching. The American people are listening. And they do have an open mind.”Trump blasted the proceedings in a Thursday morning tweet, declaring them the “Most unfair &amp; corrupt hearing in Congressional history!”House Democrats&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/0756fda2b5143891c5da1c6897001cee">impeached Trump</a>&nbsp;last month, arguing he abused his office by asking Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/94fdeaddc6b34c02b97278674b87541e">withholding crucial military aid</a>. They also charged him with obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe. Republicans have defended Trump’s actions as appropriate and cast the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken the president in the midst of his reelection campaign.Campaigning in Iowa, Biden stood by the effort to remove Trump from office.“People ask the question, ‘Isn’t the president going to be stronger and harder to beat if he survives this?’ Yes, probably. But Congress has no choice,” he said. Senators must cast their votes and “live with that in history.”Each side has up to three days to present its case. After the House prosecutors finish, likely Friday, the president’s lawyers will launch their 24 hours. It’s unclear how much time they will actually take, but Trump’s team promises not only to defend the president but to take apart the Democrats’ case. The Senate is expected to take only Sunday off and push into next week.“There’s a lot of things I’d like to rebut,” said Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow at the Capitol, “and we will rebut.”After that senators will face the question of whether they do, or do not, want to call witnesses to testify.On the first day of opening arguments, Schiff appealed to senators not to be “cynical” about politics, but to draw on the intent of the nation’s Founding Fathers in providing the remedy of impeachment and removal. He spoke directly to Republicans to join in voting to oust Trump from office to “protect our democracy.”Holding the room proved difficult. Most senators sat at their desks throughout, as the rules stipulate, though some stretched their legs, standing behind the desks or against the back wall of the chamber. Sometimes they yawned. Republicans sometimes quietly smirked at the presentation from Schiff and the lesser-known House Democrats prosecuting the case.Nearing nine long hours of arguments, the empty seats became glaringly apparent. Sen. Dianne Feinstein D-Calif., was under the weather and left early. Some lawmakers dashed down the hall to appear on television. Visitors thinned from the galleries, one briefly interrupting in protest and being removed by Capitol police.GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina told reporters he was “hearing exactly what they said yesterday.... nothing new whatsoever.”But another Republican, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, acknowledged that the case against the president is probably new information for most of them. ”’Nine out of 10 senators will tell you that they have not read the transcript of the proceedings of the House. And the 10th senator who says he has is lying.”The impeachment trial is set against the backdrop of the 2020 election. All four senators who are Democratic presidential candidates are off the campaign trail, seated as jurors.Several GOP senators said Wednesday they’d seen no evidence to support the allegations against Trump even though, just 24 hours earlier, they had rejected subpoenas for additional witnesses as well as documents. Democrats, meanwhile, described the evidence against the president as overwhelming but said senators had a duty to gather more.A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/06eb66d980777296f8509c154107c28f">new poll</a>&nbsp;from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed the public slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%. But a sizable percentage, 14%, said they didn’t know enough to have an opinion.One issue with wide agreement: Trump should allow top aides to appear as witnesses at the trial. About 7 in 10 said so, including majorities of Republicans and Democrats, according to the poll.The strategy of more witnesses, though, seemed all but settled. Republicans rejected Democratic efforts to get Trump aides including former national security adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, to testify in back-to-back votes earlier this week.Senators were likely to repeat that rejection next week, shutting out any chance of new testimony.Some Republicans expressed disdain for it all. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa spoke sarcastically about how excited she was to hear the “overwhelming evidence” the House Democrats promised against Trump.“And once we’ve heard that overwhelming evidence,” she said, raising her voice mockingly, “I don’t know that we’ll need to see additional witnesses, but let’s hear about that overwhelming evidence.”Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer bemoaned the limits on witnesses, saying Wednesday the impeachment trial “begins with a cloud hanging over it, a cloud of unfairness.”Republicans remained eager for a swift trial. Yet Trump’s legal team passed on an opportunity to file a motion to dismiss the case on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that there were not enough Republican votes to support it.The White House legal team, in its court filings and presentations, has not disputed Trump’s actions. But the lawyers insist the president did nothing wrong.

🎥  Senate will hear abuse of power case in Trump impeachment

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid met with the media Monday to talk about winning the AFC title and playing in the Super Bowl. Following are his comments.

OPENING STATEMENT:&nbsp;"Good to be back in this room again seeing everybody. I have no injuries to report, which is a plus. Very excited to have the Lamar Hunt Trophy back in Kansas City, where it belongs, with the Hunt Family. That was a special day yesterday. To be a part of that, I was honored. For the city of Kansas City, it was a beautiful thing. The fans were phenomenal. They all stuck around. It was pretty chilly around that time, and they were there keeping all of us warm. It was a great thing. It was good to see (Kansas City Mayor) Quinton Lucas there, our mayor, and likewise here. I appreciated the shout-out off of the stage there. Our players and coaches, I'm so proud of them for the job that they did, getting us ready and getting us to this position. The best part is, we still have another game left. We need to make sure that we take care of business from there. Guys have been in. Coaches have been in and are cranking already on San Francisco. We know that they are a heck of a football team. Through all of the different distractions that present themselves with the Super Bowl, we have to make sure that we focus in and get ourselves ready to play against a good football team. That's where we're at right now. Time's yours."

Q:&nbsp;How did you spend the evening last night after the win in the AFC Championship Game?

REID:&nbsp;"I had a cheeseburger and went to bed&nbsp;(laughter)."

Q:&nbsp;Did you get out of Chris Jones what you anticipated yesterday?

REID:&nbsp;"Yeah, we started him off slow – just on third downs to see how he would do. He was feeling better as we went along, so we gave him a little bit more. I thought (Run Game Coordinator / DL Coach) Brendan Daly did a nice job with managing him throughout it. Chris did a good job of communicating. As a result, I think he came out feeling pretty good. Not that he won't be sore, he hasn't played for a little bit. All in all, I think he came out healthy."

Q:&nbsp;Do you anticipate Jones being able to do more in a couple of weeks?

REID:&nbsp;"Yeah, I'd presume. Yes."

Q:&nbsp;I know it's early, but what do you know about the 49ers?

REID:&nbsp;"I've had a chance to look at them. I spent the morning doing that. I know that they're a good, solid football team. They play hard and aggressive. You saw that last night in playing against a good Green Bay team. They do a variety of things on both sides of the ball. They can run it and they can pass it on the offensive side. On defense, they have a variety of things that they throw at you from a defensive standpoint. Solid on special teams. All in all, it's a good football team. Well-coached, very well-coached."

Q: How do you go about balancing getting the team ready for the Super Bowl game itself and ensuring that they are focused before having to do all of the media commitments next week?

REID:&nbsp;"You try to get as much done as you possibly can right here. That's what we'll do. Get most of the gameplan in while you're in your own environment here. Try to keep it as normal as possible. Once we get down there, within all of the media obligations that you have and all of the other things that go on, try to keep it as normal as you can, practice-wise, there, too."

Q:&nbsp;How will you prepare the team for playing in the environment that you'll see at Super Bowl LIV?

REID:&nbsp;"I've checked on that, now that you've asked about that. The sun sets at like 5:55 (p.m.) and the game is at 6 (p.m.). It's averaging like 73 degrees, and it's supposed to be that the next few weeks with a low in the 60s, right in there. I think we're going to be OK that way. We've been playing in all of this cold weather. I've reminded the guys, throughout the last month or so here, to keep yourselves in warm weather shape. They were probably looking at me crazy for saying that. This is why. Everybody was doing a little bit extra running and conditioning after practice and all of that. I think we'll be OK. You're wearing that (Mexico City) jacket, we had the opportunity to play there, where there was the high altitude and all of that, and the guys pushed themselves through all of that. I think they'll be OK at sea level."

Q:&nbsp;Are there any similar characteristics between the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles team that you coached that went to the Super Bowl and this 2019 Kansas City Chiefs team?

REID:&nbsp;"I had great leaders on that team, future Hall of Famers -- at least one of them is in now. I was fortunate that way and I feel like I have future Hall of Famers on this team here. Hall of Fame leaders, too. There's a difference. We have some real good leaders on this team. Similarities are with some good players. I've been blessed in that way as a head coach."

Q:&nbsp;What has it been like to see General Manager Brett Veach's development over the years, dating back to when he was on your Eagles staff?

REID:&nbsp;"Listen, a lot of the credit goes to him. Look at what he did with our defensive side of the football, as far as personnel goes. My hat goes off to him. I think he has done a phenomenal job. You guys have gotten to know him now over time. You feel that energy that he presents every day. It's not just when he is around you, it's every day. He has a dynamic personality that way. He's relentless. It has shown with the guys that he has brought in here."

Q:&nbsp;With Sammy Watkins, is there something about playoff games that brings out the best in him?

REID:&nbsp;"Sammy has been doing a great job all year. For the majority of the year, he has been healthy, I think for the first time in a long time. He is a Pro Bowl player. He is a first-round draft pick. That's what he is. He is a great player. We just have a few of them around him, so everybody can't get the ball every snap. He is the most unselfish guy you've ever been around that has that caliber. It's great for the other guys to see, being that he was picked that high. He just wants to win. He doesn't care who gets the ball, when or where, he is going to play hard, block, catch, do all of the right things. I tried to give him a chance to throw it last week, he didn't do very good on that one&nbsp;(laughter). But he has a great arm. They just covered it."

Q:&nbsp;In your experience, just how difficult is it to go from one season to another and overturn a unit on one side of the football so successfully like Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has done?

REID:&nbsp;"Spags has done a great job with that group. He has guys with him on the defensive side that he was familiar with. He'll be the first to tell you, that is such a big part of it. He didn't have to teach the coaches; the coaches just hit the ground running and already knew what was expected of them. Therefore, the players go, 'Man, all of these guys believe this, they can teach it, they're all tied in.' With that, there was a confidence that was built in. Even when things start off slow, the guys are going, 'We're this close, we're this close to turning this thing around again to the way we want it.' They just kept at it and kept at it. You have some good leaders there on that side, too."

Q:&nbsp;Patrick was the leading rusher again yesterday, what kind of dimension does that add to your offense?

REID:&nbsp;“It helps, especially with stuff like coverages they’re presenting. They have the ultimate respect for him and they’re doubling our guys. You aren’t just getting one guy doubled but two guys doubled. The defensive line is trying to sack him so if they make one miss on him or get out of their lane a bit, it’s over. He’s got all this running space. We’ve seen that the last couple of weeks now. For him to be able to decipher it, see it and then go and still keep his eyes down field, giving guys a chance to get open. That’s what happened with Sammy (Watkins). He scrambled to the right and throws a 60-yard or whatever it was on a dime. He probably could’ve run that for a little bit too.”

Q:&nbsp;Is that something you have encouraged him to do?

REID:&nbsp;“It’s just part of the game. He knows that. I don’t have to tell him anything on that.”

Q:&nbsp;What have you thought about the offensive line’s pass protection the last two games?

REID:&nbsp;“Listen, I think they’ve done a nice job. They’ll have a big challenge with this game coming up here. That’s a good defensive line but I have confidence they’ll rise up to the challenge. They’re wired the right way and they’ve battled these last couple of weeks. I’m proud of them for that.”

Q:&nbsp;Raheem Mostert had a career day yesterday, what challenges does he present in comparison to a guy like Derrick Henry?

REID:&nbsp;“He did have a career day yesterday. He ran like crazy. We’ll have to get down and study him, get the blocking schemes down and all that. Our guys will do that. They’ll bear down on it. They also have a good quarterback who can throw the ball and good receivers and an All-Pro tight end. There are a lot of variables to that offense that they can use as different weapons. Our guys will spend the time going over it and all that, studying it.”

Q:&nbsp;Stefen Wisniewski has started the last four games, what does he give you over Andrew Wylie?

REID:&nbsp;“They’re both good. They’re both good players. There’s nothing wrong with Wylie, it’s just you get in and get going and it’s working. So you stick to it and roll with it. It doesn’t mean Wylie can’t. We do a good job with him in there also. Wis (Stefen Wisniewski) has experience and his strengths are that. He’s got experience, he’s dirty tough, he brings good energy and he’s brilliant. He’s up there with (Mitchell) Schwartz and Larry (Laurent Duvernay-Tardif). We might have, academically, one of the smartest groups. We got a doctor, I mean come on&nbsp;(laughter). It’s not bad.”

Q:&nbsp;Do you know the impact you have made on people throughout the league and how excited they are for you to get back to the Super Bowl?

REID:&nbsp;“Just before I got here I answered every one of them. I had quite a few texts. I appreciate every one of them. It’s a small fraternity and a great fraternity. We’re all trying to do what’s best for this league because of the way we’re treated. That ends up creating this thing and you all go through a recession and the league was that strong that it could battle through that. We all had jobs, right. We were all there and working and there’s something to be said for that.”

Q:&nbsp;For those who aren’t around Patrick Mahomes all the time, what is his leadership style like and second, how do you process 50 years it’s taken to get back to this point?

REID:&nbsp;“He’s great to be around every day because he brings energy every day. You respect that. Everybody has their ups and downs because there is life outside of football. When he’s in that building it’s all football, it’s all team. He’s never said it’s about me. I’ve never heard that from him. It’s all 100% about the team and how we’re doing and what can we do better, where can I help. Then, he buckles down to get the game plan down and he studies. For the young guys out there, what a great example. He’s not the fastest guy out there but you see him know when to run, when to get down, know when to throw it. For a young guy, he’s a special kid. The city is lucky to have him. It’s a nice match up having great fans and a great quarterback like that.”

Q:&nbsp;How do you process 50 years, were you watching that game back then?

REID:&nbsp;“50 years ago, I was watching the game. I was doing punt, pass and kick&nbsp;(laughter). I have video evidence of that. They’ve worn out.”

Q:&nbsp;After a full year of coaching Frank Clark, is there something you’ve learned about him that you didn’t know when you traded for him?

REID:&nbsp;“He’s a great teammate. I knew this before because we played against him, but he is relentless. I mean absolutely relentless. So, it’s one hundred miles an hour at practice. It’s one hundred miles an hour during the game. He goes. That’s contagious. That ends up being something that effects the other guys in a positive way. He loves to play. If you’re slacking at all, he’ll let you know. He’s not afraid to tell you. It’s all in a very good way. He’s got a good way about him.”

Q:&nbsp;You were talking about the 49ers offensive weapons, they run more 21 personnel than any other team in the league by far, what are the hallmarks of a team like that?

REID:&nbsp;“That’s an old tradition with the Shanahan’s. They know that offense very well. I was fortunate to start with that offense, so I’m familiar with it. There are all kinds of things you can do with it. We’ve all gone different ways, but our roots come back to it. He’s done a very nice job with it. He’s a very smart kid, he’s sharp. Great for this league. This influx of these new coaches with great minds on both sides of the ball. It makes this league strong.”

Q:&nbsp;How much do you think you have evolved since your last Super Bowl appearance?

REID:&nbsp;“It’s different, but I think I try to play to the players strengths the best I can. I think my coaches do the same thing. We’re all trying to exploit your talents if you’re playing for us and we try to get to you playing better at the things you’re not. These kids are coming out of college now that are offensively throwing the ball like crazy. We’re utilizing that from whatever formations might be familiar to them and just try to give them an opportunity. Then, Spags does it the same way. You’re always changing. That’s what is so great about this league, you don’t get stale. There’s always work to be done. Always learning that takes place. Football is in a good place right now, it’s exciting. On both sides of the ball, it’s exciting. You are utilizing the whole field and playing in space which creates some unique looks for the fans.”

--<a href="http://chiefs.com">CHIEFS</a>--

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573518063480.png" alt="Head Coach Andy Reid. Photo courtesy <a href="http://chiefs.com">Chiefs</a>" />
 <figcaption>Head Coach Andy Reid. Photo courtesy <a href="http://chiefs.com">Chiefs</a></figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid met with the media Monday to talk about winning the AFC title and playing in the Super Bowl. Following are his comments.OPENING STATEMENT:&nbsp;"Good to be back in this room again seeing everybody. I have no injuries to report, which is a plus. Very excited to have the Lamar Hunt Trophy back in Kansas City, where it belongs, with the Hunt Family. That was a special day yesterday. To be a part of that, I was honored. For the city of Kansas City, it was a beautiful thing. The fans were phenomenal. They all stuck around. It was pretty chilly around that time, and they were there keeping all of us warm. It was a great thing. It was good to see (Kansas City Mayor) Quinton Lucas there, our mayor, and likewise here. I appreciated the shout-out off of the stage there. Our players and coaches, I'm so proud of them for the job that they did, getting us ready and getting us to this position. The best part is, we still have another game left. We need to make sure that we take care of business from there. Guys have been in. Coaches have been in and are cranking already on San Francisco. We know that they are a heck of a football team. Through all of the different distractions that present themselves with the Super Bowl, we have to make sure that we focus in and get ourselves ready to play against a good football team. That's where we're at right now. Time's yours."Q:&nbsp;How did you spend the evening last night after the win in the AFC Championship Game?REID:&nbsp;"I had a cheeseburger and went to bed&nbsp;(laughter)."Q:&nbsp;Did you get out of Chris Jones what you anticipated yesterday?REID:&nbsp;"Yeah, we started him off slow – just on third downs to see how he would do. He was feeling better as we went along, so we gave him a little bit more. I thought (Run Game Coordinator / DL Coach) Brendan Daly did a nice job with managing him throughout it. Chris did a good job of communicating. As a result, I think he came out feeling pretty good. Not that he won't be sore, he hasn't played for a little bit. All in all, I think he came out healthy."Q:&nbsp;Do you anticipate Jones being able to do more in a couple of weeks?REID:&nbsp;"Yeah, I'd presume. Yes."Q:&nbsp;I know it's early, but what do you know about the 49ers?REID:&nbsp;"I've had a chance to look at them. I spent the morning doing that. I know that they're a good, solid football team. They play hard and aggressive. You saw that last night in playing against a good Green Bay team. They do a variety of things on both sides of the ball. They can run it and they can pass it on the offensive side. On defense, they have a variety of things that they throw at you from a defensive standpoint. Solid on special teams. All in all, it's a good football team. Well-coached, very well-coached."Q: How do you go about balancing getting the team ready for the Super Bowl game itself and ensuring that they are focused before having to do all of the media commitments next week?REID:&nbsp;"You try to get as much done as you possibly can right here. That's what we'll do. Get most of the gameplan in while you're in your own environment here. Try to keep it as normal as possible. Once we get down there, within all of the media obligations that you have and all of the other things that go on, try to keep it as normal as you can, practice-wise, there, too."Q:&nbsp;How will you prepare the team for playing in the environment that you'll see at Super Bowl LIV?REID:&nbsp;"I've checked on that, now that you've asked about that. The sun sets at like 5:55 (p.m.) and the game is at 6 (p.m.). It's averaging like 73 degrees, and it's supposed to be that the next few weeks with a low in the 60s, right in there. I think we're going to be OK that way. We've been playing in all of this cold weather. I've reminded the guys, throughout the last month or so here, to keep yourselves in warm weather shape. They were probably looking at me crazy for saying that. This is why. Everybody was doing a little bit extra running and conditioning after practice and all of that. I think we'll be OK. You're wearing that (Mexico City) jacket, we had the opportunity to play there, where there was the high altitude and all of that, and the guys pushed themselves through all of that. I think they'll be OK at sea level."Q:&nbsp;Are there any similar characteristics between the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles team that you coached that went to the Super Bowl and this 2019 Kansas City Chiefs team?REID:&nbsp;"I had great leaders on that team, future Hall of Famers -- at least one of them is in now. I was fortunate that way and I feel like I have future Hall of Famers on this team here. Hall of Fame leaders, too. There's a difference. We have some real good leaders on this team. Similarities are with some good players. I've been blessed in that way as a head coach."Q:&nbsp;What has it been like to see General Manager Brett Veach's development over the years, dating back to when he was on your Eagles staff?REID:&nbsp;"Listen, a lot of the credit goes to him. Look at what he did with our defensive side of the football, as far as personnel goes. My hat goes off to him. I think he has done a phenomenal job. You guys have gotten to know him now over time. You feel that energy that he presents every day. It's not just when he is around you, it's every day. He has a dynamic personality that way. He's relentless. It has shown with the guys that he has brought in here."Q:&nbsp;With Sammy Watkins, is there something about playoff games that brings out the best in him?REID:&nbsp;"Sammy has been doing a great job all year. For the majority of the year, he has been healthy, I think for the first time in a long time. He is a Pro Bowl player. He is a first-round draft pick. That's what he is. He is a great player. We just have a few of them around him, so everybody can't get the ball every snap. He is the most unselfish guy you've ever been around that has that caliber. It's great for the other guys to see, being that he was picked that high. He just wants to win. He doesn't care who gets the ball, when or where, he is going to play hard, block, catch, do all of the right things. I tried to give him a chance to throw it last week, he didn't do very good on that one&nbsp;(laughter). But he has a great arm. They just covered it."Q:&nbsp;In your experience, just how difficult is it to go from one season to another and overturn a unit on one side of the football so successfully like Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has done?REID:&nbsp;"Spags has done a great job with that group. He has guys with him on the defensive side that he was familiar with. He'll be the first to tell you, that is such a big part of it. He didn't have to teach the coaches; the coaches just hit the ground running and already knew what was expected of them. Therefore, the players go, 'Man, all of these guys believe this, they can teach it, they're all tied in.' With that, there was a confidence that was built in. Even when things start off slow, the guys are going, 'We're this close, we're this close to turning this thing around again to the way we want it.' They just kept at it and kept at it. You have some good leaders there on that side, too."Q:&nbsp;Patrick was the leading rusher again yesterday, what kind of dimension does that add to your offense?REID:&nbsp;“It helps, especially with stuff like coverages they’re presenting. They have the ultimate respect for him and they’re doubling our guys. You aren’t just getting one guy doubled but two guys doubled. The defensive line is trying to sack him so if they make one miss on him or get out of their lane a bit, it’s over. He’s got all this running space. We’ve seen that the last couple of weeks now. For him to be able to decipher it, see it and then go and still keep his eyes down field, giving guys a chance to get open. That’s what happened with Sammy (Watkins). He scrambled to the right and throws a 60-yard or whatever it was on a dime. He probably could’ve run that for a little bit too.”Q:&nbsp;Is that something you have encouraged him to do?REID:&nbsp;“It’s just part of the game. He knows that. I don’t have to tell him anything on that.”Q:&nbsp;What have you thought about the offensive line’s pass protection the last two games?REID:&nbsp;“Listen, I think they’ve done a nice job. They’ll have a big challenge with this game coming up here. That’s a good defensive line but I have confidence they’ll rise up to the challenge. They’re wired the right way and they’ve battled these last couple of weeks. I’m proud of them for that.”Q:&nbsp;Raheem Mostert had a career day yesterday, what challenges does he present in comparison to a guy like Derrick Henry?REID:&nbsp;“He did have a career day yesterday. He ran like crazy. We’ll have to get down and study him, get the blocking schemes down and all that. Our guys will do that. They’ll bear down on it. They also have a good quarterback who can throw the ball and good receivers and an All-Pro tight end. There are a lot of variables to that offense that they can use as different weapons. Our guys will spend the time going over it and all that, studying it.”Q:&nbsp;Stefen Wisniewski has started the last four games, what does he give you over Andrew Wylie?REID:&nbsp;“They’re both good. They’re both good players. There’s nothing wrong with Wylie, it’s just you get in and get going and it’s working. So you stick to it and roll with it. It doesn’t mean Wylie can’t. We do a good job with him in there also. Wis (Stefen Wisniewski) has experience and his strengths are that. He’s got experience, he’s dirty tough, he brings good energy and he’s brilliant. He’s up there with (Mitchell) Schwartz and Larry (Laurent Duvernay-Tardif). We might have, academically, one of the smartest groups. We got a doctor, I mean come on&nbsp;(laughter). It’s not bad.”Q:&nbsp;Do you know the impact you have made on people throughout the league and how excited they are for you to get back to the Super Bowl?REID:&nbsp;“Just before I got here I answered every one of them. I had quite a few texts. I appreciate every one of them. It’s a small fraternity and a great fraternity. We’re all trying to do what’s best for this league because of the way we’re treated. That ends up creating this thing and you all go through a recession and the league was that strong that it could battle through that. We all had jobs, right. We were all there and working and there’s something to be said for that.”Q:&nbsp;For those who aren’t around Patrick Mahomes all the time, what is his leadership style like and second, how do you process 50 years it’s taken to get back to this point?REID:&nbsp;“He’s great to be around every day because he brings energy every day. You respect that. Everybody has their ups and downs because there is life outside of football. When he’s in that building it’s all football, it’s all team. He’s never said it’s about me. I’ve never heard that from him. It’s all 100% about the team and how we’re doing and what can we do better, where can I help. Then, he buckles down to get the game plan down and he studies. For the young guys out there, what a great example. He’s not the fastest guy out there but you see him know when to run, when to get down, know when to throw it. For a young guy, he’s a special kid. The city is lucky to have him. It’s a nice match up having great fans and a great quarterback like that.”Q:&nbsp;How do you process 50 years, were you watching that game back then?REID:&nbsp;“50 years ago, I was watching the game. I was doing punt, pass and kick&nbsp;(laughter). I have video evidence of that. They’ve worn out.”Q:&nbsp;After a full year of coaching Frank Clark, is there something you’ve learned about him that you didn’t know when you traded for him?REID:&nbsp;“He’s a great teammate. I knew this before because we played against him, but he is relentless. I mean absolutely relentless. So, it’s one hundred miles an hour at practice. It’s one hundred miles an hour during the game. He goes. That’s contagious. That ends up being something that effects the other guys in a positive way. He loves to play. If you’re slacking at all, he’ll let you know. He’s not afraid to tell you. It’s all in a very good way. He’s got a good way about him.”Q:&nbsp;You were talking about the 49ers offensive weapons, they run more 21 personnel than any other team in the league by far, what are the hallmarks of a team like that?REID:&nbsp;“That’s an old tradition with the Shanahan’s. They know that offense very well. I was fortunate to start with that offense, so I’m familiar with it. There are all kinds of things you can do with it. We’ve all gone different ways, but our roots come back to it. He’s done a very nice job with it. He’s a very smart kid, he’s sharp. Great for this league. This influx of these new coaches with great minds on both sides of the ball. It makes this league strong.”Q:&nbsp;How much do you think you have evolved since your last Super Bowl appearance?REID:&nbsp;“It’s different, but I think I try to play to the players strengths the best I can. I think my coaches do the same thing. We’re all trying to exploit your talents if you’re playing for us and we try to get to you playing better at the things you’re not. These kids are coming out of college now that are offensively throwing the ball like crazy. We’re utilizing that from whatever formations might be familiar to them and just try to give them an opportunity. Then, Spags does it the same way. You’re always changing. That’s what is so great about this league, you don’t get stale. There’s always work to be done. Always learning that takes place. Football is in a good place right now, it’s exciting. On both sides of the ball, it’s exciting. You are utilizing the whole field and playing in space which creates some unique looks for the fans.”--<a href="http://chiefs.com">CHIEFS</a>--

Chiefs' Reid: 'Very excited' to have Lamar Hunt Trophy back in KC

TOPEKA — Legislators are holding a joint House-Senate hearing Tuesday in Topeka to discuss a Kansas Constitutional Amendment on abortion.&nbsp;

<a href="http://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00287/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20200121/-1/8164">Click to listen to the hearing</a>

On January 16, a coalition of pro-life organizations that included the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, the Kansas Catholic Conference (KCC, and Concerned Women for America of Kansas (CWA) and Kansans for Life (KFL, along with several state legislators, introduced “Value Them Both”, an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that safeguards both women and babies from what could soon be an unregulated abortion industry created by the 2019 ruling in <a href="http://www.kscourts.org/Kansas-Courts/General-information/2019-News-Releases/042919.pdf">Hodes &amp; Nauser v. Schmidt,</a> according to a media <a href="https://kfl.org/coalition-of-state-pro-life-groups-and-legislators-introduce-value-them-both-constitutional-amendment/">release from Kansans for Life.</a>

Value Them Both restores to the people of Kansas, through their elected officials, the ability to regulate the abortion industry in a way that protects both women and babies. 

<a href="http://www.kscourts.org/Kansas-Courts/General-information/2019-News-Releases/042919.pdf">Hodes &amp; Nauser v. Schmid</a>t put at risk broadly supported regulations like bans on brutal late-term abortion and taxpayer funded abortions, parental notification requirements and clinic safety standards, leaving both women and babies without even the most basic health and safety standards.

If passed, the amendment would be on August primary ballot.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579620703178.png" alt="Packed room Tuesday for the hearing on Kansas abortion constitutional amendment photo courtesy Kansans for Life" />
 <figcaption>Packed room Tuesday for the hearing on Kansas abortion constitutional amendment photo courtesy Kansans for Life</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA — Legislators are holding a joint House-Senate hearing Tuesday in Topeka to discuss a Kansas Constitutional Amendment on abortion.&nbsp;<a href="http://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00287/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20200121/-1/8164">Click to listen to the hearing</a>On January 16, a coalition of pro-life organizations that included the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, the Kansas Catholic Conference (KCC, and Concerned Women for America of Kansas (CWA) and Kansans for Life (KFL, along with several state legislators, introduced “Value Them Both”, an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that safeguards both women and babies from what could soon be an unregulated abortion industry created by the 2019 ruling in <a href="http://www.kscourts.org/Kansas-Courts/General-information/2019-News-Releases/042919.pdf">Hodes &amp; Nauser v. Schmidt,</a> according to a media <a href="https://kfl.org/coalition-of-state-pro-life-groups-and-legislators-introduce-value-them-both-constitutional-amendment/">release from Kansans for Life.</a>Value Them Both restores to the people of Kansas, through their elected officials, the ability to regulate the abortion industry in a way that protects both women and babies. <a href="http://www.kscourts.org/Kansas-Courts/General-information/2019-News-Releases/042919.pdf">Hodes &amp; Nauser v. Schmid</a>t put at risk broadly supported regulations like bans on brutal late-term abortion and taxpayer funded abortions, parental notification requirements and clinic safety standards, leaving both women and babies without even the most basic health and safety standards.If passed, the amendment would be on August primary ballot.

Listen: Kansas abortion constitutional amendment hearing 

CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) — Like all the best con artists, Randy Constant was a charmer, hard not to like.

Big hearted. Good listener. You’d never have guessed that the father of three, grandfather of five was a liar, cheat and serial philanderer who masterminded one of the biggest and longest-running frauds in the history of American agriculture.

“He was a wonderful person,” an old friend told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article239079858.html">The Kansas City Star</a>. “He just had that other side to him.”

“What he done shocked me to death,” said Stoutsville, Missouri, farmer John Heinecke, who did business with Constant for years. “I didn’t know he was that kind of corrupt.”

Church-going family man. School board president. Agribusiness entrepreneur. That’s the caring, accomplished Randy Constant people knew in Chillicothe, Missouri, which advertises itself on road signs as the “Home of Sliced Bread.”

Until the full story started to emerge last summer, Constant seemed like one of the best things to come out of Chillicothe since those first pre-cut loaves appeared on store shelves 90 years ago.

He made a good living buying and selling organic grain. He raised tilapia by the ton inside a former Walmart, shipping the farm-raised fish to Whole Foods and hundreds of other supermarkets nationwide.

His reputation earned him prominent mention in Successful Farming magazine’s June 2017 special issue as one of “10 Successful Farmers to Watch” in America.

What the magazine’s editors didn’t know was that Constant was already being closely watched. On a humid Tuesday morning later that same month, a line of black SUVs rolled down Oaklawn Drive and parked outside the four-bedroom, Cape Cod-style house that Constant shared with his wife, Pam.

“We have a search warrant,” agents from the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Agriculture said as they appeared at the couple’s front door around 9:30 a.m.

For five and a half hours, investigators sorted through records from Constant’s business and personal life. There was a lot of material to process because Constant had quite inexplicably become one of the biggest sellers of “certified organic” feed grain in the entire country.

Records showed that in 2016 he sold 7% of all the corn labeled organic and 8% of all the soybeans carrying that designation. More than $19 million worth that year, $24 million the year before and so on every year before that back to 2010 at least.

It was impossible for him to have done that legitimately. He didn’t have access to enough organic crop acres to supply so many bushels.

“Somebody who was competing with him in the organic market noticed that he was flooding the market with too much grain and at too low of a price for what organic grain should be sold for,” federal prosecutor Anthony Morfitt told The Star.

That’s what got the whole thing started. A tip rather than the government’s flawed oversight program for the organic food industry. For many years, that inspection system had failed to detect Constant’s fraudulent scheme. Now the feds were onto him.

There was plenty of temptation to cheat. Organic grain costs more to produce per bushel than conventionally grown crops and therefore demands a higher price. After processing, it is fed to cattle and chickens, whose meat is also sold at a premium in stores and restaurants because a growing number of consumers are willing to pay more for protein that comes from animals raised on a natural, organic diet.

There’s no proof that the meat is any better for you, but some people believe it is and others have philosophical or environmental reasons for preferring it.

To earn the National Organic Seal, the plants from which organic grain is harvested cannot have been genetically modified. And they must be grown without help from chemical fertilizers or synthetic weed or bug killers. But for decades the government’s system for ensuring that consumers get what they are paying for has been inadequate.

It largely depends on trusting that organic farmers are honest and that the private inspectors who monitor their operations are thorough in reviewing the paperwork because there is no test to determine whether an ear of field corn, say, is organic or not.

A clever and unethical seller can successfully pass off cheaper conventionally grown grain for the more expensive organic kind and make a huge profit, if they sell a lot of it.

The agents suspected Randy Constant of doing just that.

With the FBI’s assistance, the USDA would go on to prove that Constant was a swindler on a grand scale: More than $140 million in fraudulent sales between 2010 and 2017 for grain that was likely worth half that.

The Star’s subsequent reporting found that, in fact, his scheme stretched back further than that, to 2007 or 2006.

Constant scammed grain buyers, meat producers and millions of American consumers for a decade or more. The organic beef and poultry countless Americans were eating during those years wasn’t organic after all.

It was just like any other meat. All thanks to Randy Constant, who squandered the profits on a fish farm that failed, travel and a secret, double life that was shockingly at odds with his good-guy image in Chillicothe.

As his family members wept during his sentencing hearing for wire fraud in an Iowa courtroom last August, prosecutors disclosed the scandalous ways Constant had spent some of the ill-gotten profits.

Not only did he bankroll extravagant family vacations every summer — counting kids and grandkids, he’d treat a dozen to stays at luxury resorts like Hilton Head, South Carolina — Constant also admitted to using the grain sales money to pay for sex with prostitutes and wagering at casinos.

He took more than 20 trips to Las Vegas, often alone, during the seven-year period covered in his indictment. There he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal profits on gambling on the Vegas strip, hiring female escorts and providing financial support to three women with whom he had extramarital affairs.

He shared a bank account with one of them, and spent $110,000 on her car payments and other bills, a trip to Spain and surgery to enhance her breasts.

“During a roughly seven-month period in the course of the scheme,” Constant admitted in court records, “another account in my name and under my control incurred more than $250,000 in Las Vegas-related expenses.”

The revelations stunned those who had befriended the onetime high school football star and local Future Farmers of America president. They still find it hard to grasp that someone who once seemed to believe strongly in the value of growing food organically would betray that industry, not to mention business associates, friends and family.

“I knew a different Randy than what I read about in the papers,” said former Missouri organic farmer Maryann Kohl, now retired in Palm Springs, California. “Everything about him seemed good and legitimate.”

Who was Randy Constant? When did he go astray and how did he get away with his scam for so long? The Star spent more than a month finding answers to those questions by reviewing court, business and government records, as well as conducting interviews with regulators, industry officials and those who knew him.

The most intriguing question of all may never be answered. Only Randy Constant knows why he did what he did, but at age 60 he took his own life last August. Three days earlier he’d been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He was ordered to forfeit $128 million, a fine that he almost certainly never would have been able to pay off.

“I know Randy was deeply ashamed of his conduct,” his widow said soon after his passing.

She and other family members were unwilling to discuss with a reporter anything more about the man or his many mistakes.

Despite Constant’s faults, former business partner Glen Borgerding remains sympathetic and remembers him fondly.

“The reaction you get from people after hearing of his suicide is that he deserved what he got,” he said. “But I don’t feel that way. There was a lot of good in Randy and the real tragedy is that he went down this path.”

While many sellers have been hit with civil penalties for engaging in organic food fraud, only a few bad actors have ever been prosecuted criminally.

One of the first was a Texas farmer sentenced in 2010 to two years in prison for fraudulently mislabeling three kinds of beans and millions of pounds of milo as organic. The next year, two California fertilizer suppliers and an Oregon grain farmer got prison time for falsely claiming their products were organic.

And more recently, Bernard Saul of Bliss, Idaho, was sentenced in 2016 to three years in federal custody and three years probation for selling far more “organic” alfalfa seed than his organic farm could have produced.

But these cases were small potatoes compared to Constant’s scheme, the disclosure of which stunned the organic food industry both for its scale and how it exposed the shortcomings in the government’s organic certification program.

“We have been sitting on a ticking time bomb for years,” Margaret Scoles, the executive director of the International Organic Inspectors Association, said in prepared remarks at an industry conference in October.

“We just didn’t know the name of it — Randy Constant. This is a failure on all of our heads. Our system of managing organic integrity proved inadequate.”

Until Constant’s crime became public knowledge at the end of 2018, greater attention had been focused on illicit foreign shipments of grain from the Black Sea region. Almost nothing was being said about the potential for fraud domestically.

“Which is interesting, isn’t it?” Scoles told The Star. “That we were all looking at the Turkish grain fraud and we were all upset because that horrible imported grain was depressing organic grain prices in this country, and really what was happening was the largest fraud of all was being perpetrated right in the Midwest heartland where everybody’s honest.”

A 90-minute drive northeast of Kansas City, Chillicothe is about the same size today — population 9,500 — as it was when Jack and JoAnn Constant welcomed into the world the third of their four children. Randall Jay Constant was born two weeks before Christmas in 1958.

When he was growing up, Chillicothe was the kind of close-knit, rural community where the local newspaper would print kids’ letters to Santa Claus every Christmas season. Randy’s first appeared in print when he was 7 and then another made the paper two years later, in December 1967.

“Santa, I have tried to be a good boy this year,” the third-grader wrote. “I want a BB gun, a ball, a catcher’s mitt, a bat and a dart game. Please remember my family. Your friend, Randy Constant, Chillicothe, Mo.”

In the decade that followed, his name would appear dozens of times in the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. Most often it was in the high school sports report. At 6 feet, 175 pounds, he was an all-conference defensive end/linebacker his senior year on the football squad, one of two Chillicothe Hornets players selected that spring to play in Missouri’s first-ever Lions All-State Football Game in 1977.

He was a good student and a leader off the field. After attending the Boys State leadership program the summer after his junior year, he finished high school, often wearing his blue jacket as president of the local Future Farmers of America chapter.

Constant went on to study agricultural economics at Mizzou, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi — motto: “men of principle” — the same fraternity where years earlier Kenneth Lay, founder of Enron Corp., was a member. Constant married his high school sweetheart ahead of graduation in 1981.

Over the next dozen years, they had three kids and Randy’s job assignments for his ag industry employers (Archer Daniels Midlands, then Scoular Grain Co. and Pfister Seeds) had the young family moving from town to town across the Midwest. They never stayed in one place for long, from Decatur, Illinois, to Salina, Kansas, with stops in Nebraska, Iowa and the Kansas City suburbs.

According to his obituary, “the family returned to Chillicothe in 1994 when Randy became an organic farmer…”

Growing food organically was a tiny, but fast-growing industry back then, and there was a lot of confusion over terminology. Definitions differed over what constituted “organic’’ when producing fruits, vegetables, meat, grains and the products made from them.

In 1990, Congress sought to establish clarity with the passage of the Organic Foods Production Act. It called for the USDA to define the term and lay out regulations. It took more than a decade to accomplish that, with the final rule published in the Federal Register on Dec, 21, 2000.

That was around the time Glen Borgerding met Constant. Borgerding was a crop consultant from Minnesota who specialized in organic farming methods. Constant was farming some on his own and was the farm manager for an organic soybean brokerage company that was selling soybeans to the Japanese.

“They had hired Randy to run their Missouri operations,’’ said Borgerding, who the company brought on as a consultant.

When Borgerding’s contract with the firm ended a year later, he suggested to Constant that they go into business together and Organic Land Management LLC was born in January of 2001.

“We clicked really well,” Borgerding said. “We both had skill sets that really complimented each other.”

Borgerding’s role was as the strategic thinker, focusing on soil fertility management and doing the paperwork necessary to maintain their croplands’ organic certification. Constant was out in the fields taking care of day-to-day management of the acres they owned or rented in Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, while Borgerding oversaw operations in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Things went well those first five years, but then trouble came out of nowhere.

“We doubled our net worth every year until 2006, when we suddenly had a flat year,” Borgerding said. “This led to our operating-loan lender pulling out on us at the last minute, which left us pretty financially desperate for the 2007 crop year.”

He couldn’t figure it out. The yield estimates had been good throughout the growing season. The weather cooperated for the most part.

But without access to adequate credit, the joint operation couldn’t survive, and so they split up.

It wasn’t until several months after they parted that Borgerding’s suspicions were raised when he got a phone call from a customer who he wasn’t aware of ever doing business with. The man wanted to finish up some paperwork business with Constant.

That’s when Borgerding began to think that the down year in 2006 had nothing to do with poor yields. Rather he suspected that Constant was diverting Organic Land Management grain through a different company that Constant had formed without his knowledge.

“My gut feeling was that through OLM we were only tracking about one third of what he was actually selling as organic in 2006,” Borgerding said.

Years later he was stunned when he read about Constant’s long-running con and sordid double life in Vegas.

“When I heard that, I thought to myself, ‘damn, Randy,’ ” Borgerding said. “That would have been a helluva ride.”

Maryann Kohl met Constant in the 1990s, when both were active in the Missouri Organic Association, which promoted the value of growing crops organically.

“He was a very outgoing and well-spoken person,” she said. “Anything he could do to help another person with what they were working on, he would do.”

Her family’s farm was near Vandalia, about 150 miles east of Chillicothe. They had become acquainted at association events, but a friendship grew when they, along with Constant’s youngest daughter and two other farmers, visited the United Kingdom in 2004 on a trade mission sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

“He was fun and very much a gentleman,” Kohl said. He seemed devoted to his family and appeared to believe in the value of growing food organically.

She had no reason to doubt back then that he was complying with all the rules that a farmer must follow to maintain organic certification for his crops.

Organic farmers must hire private companies approved by the government to cross-check their books and inspect their farms annually. A few years after that trip to England, Kohl worked for Constant’s certifier, industry-leader Quality Assurance International, and by chance was chosen to inspect his operation, she said.

“I was there to make sure he was doing everything right, and as far as I could tell, he certainly was,” she said. “If he was hiding something, he was hiding it very well.”

But there are ways to cheat, such as keeping a second set of books. Tests for chemical residues were not mandatory at the time and are even now sporadic.

Was Randy Constant cheating even back then, when they drove hundreds of miles to inspect the certified organic farm ground he owned and rented in Missouri, Iowa and Colorado?

Kohl can’t help but wonder, but if so she chalks it up to his cleverness, rather than anything she did wrong.

“I wasn’t lenient on Randy because I knew him.”

She can’t be sure, but believes the year was either 2007 or 2008.

But it was around that time, in Nevada, that questions first arose about Constant’s business ethics.

An article in the June 2007 issue of an obscure publication, The Organic and Non-GMO Report, focused on the mystery surrounding a railcar full of organic soybeans.

Constant had sold the beans to Nevada Soy Product, which turned them into soybean oil. One of Nevada Soy’s customers canceled the sale after their tests showed the soybeans had come from genetically modified plants. While there is no test to determine whether a plant was grown organically, it can be determined in a lab whether that plant’s genes have been tinkered with.

When Nevada Soy co-owner Bob Rewinkle double checked the grain samples, “sure enough it was positive,” he told The Star last month.

According to the 2007 article, one of the scientists who tested the beans said there were only two explanations. Either there was an unintentional mixup, “or someone is trying to make money quick” by mixing genetically modified soybeans with the organic variety.

Constant denied wrongdoing, but Rewinkle wanted answers. The spoiled shipment was a $100,000 hit to his bottom line.

“As soon as that happened, I went into our certifiers, which at the time happened to be the state of Nevada, and told them what had happened, and they started an investigation,” Rewinkle said.

But nothing came of it. He never heard a thing from the USDA, and a spokeswoman at the Nevada Department of Agriculture told The Star that the agency has no record of what happened. The USDA would not speak specifically to this case, but said it had more funding now to investigate complaints than it did back then.

Rewinkle is still disgusted with the lack of followup by the USDA.

“If you’re the big overseer of the organic program, why don’t you do your job?” he said of the USDA. He then told The Star’s reporter, “You’re the first person that ever contacted me about this.”

Rewinkle wasn’t the only one finding fault with the federal National Organic Program during that time for failing to uphold the integrity of the organic food certification system.

The USDA’s Office of Inspector General issued a searing 2010 audit faulting the organic program’s oversight efforts. Complaints were rarely followed up on, and when they were it sometimes took years to resolve them.

The inspection system was also inadequate, the report said. Twenty years after Congress had required that crops be tested periodically for traces of chemical residues, no strict regulations to that effect were on the books.

Out of four certifying agents the OIG reviewed, none was conducting tests on the 5,000 organic farms and other operations they were responsible for.

It was in this environment that Randy Constant thrived.

“I think he figured out that, there’s just no checks and balances to determine really whether or not a No. 2 corn was actually raised organically or not,” said Clarence Mock, a Nebraska defense attorney who represented one of Constant’s co-conspirators in the criminal case.

Former Kan. ag businessman ran one of the biggest frauds in history

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and several players fielded questions during a Friday presser. Following are their comments.

OPENING STATEMENT:&nbsp;"The guy that was limited today was Chris (Jones). He was out there and moved around a little bit. Not too much, but enough to get loosened up. LeSean McCoy was back, as was Matt Moore. Both of them are coming off of the sickness. They moved around a little bit, too. They were out there and did a little bit of individual work and such. Look forward to the challenge of playing the Titans. We know that they are a heck of a football team. It should be a great game. We look forward to bringing them right here into Arrowhead with our great crowd. We know that they will be out there strong and with great support. With that, time's yours."

Q:&nbsp; How do you feel about Chris Jones' chances of playing on Sunday?

REID:&nbsp;"We'll see. I'm going to see how he feels tomorrow. We'll just go from there. We talk about going day-by-day, well this one is day-to-day."

Q:&nbsp;What does it look like Titans QB Ryan Tannehill has done from a progression standpoint since you played him and the Titans in Week 10?