Fighter jets and stealth bombers streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic on Friday.

“America's winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said, noting last month's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-sites-bombing-hegseth-trump-4014575fca3923cf29772d1c0b876206">bombing campaign</a>&nbsp;against Iran's nuclear program, which he said the flyover was meant to honor. “Promises made, promises kept, and we've kept them.”

The White House was hung with red, white and blue bunting for the Independence Day festivities. The U.S. Marine Band played patriotic marches.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751672721412.png" alt="The fighter jets and B2 bomber over the Washington monument on Friday-Image from White House video" />
                        <figcaption>The fighter jets and B2 bomber over the Washington monument on Friday-Image from White House video</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Fighter jets and stealth bombers streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic on Friday.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">White House B-2 bomber flyover. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/4thofJuly?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#4thofJuly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/July4th?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#July4th</a> <a href="https://t.co/aFcSxASKpM">pic.twitter.com/aFcSxASKpM</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1941279537704096154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>“America's winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said, noting last month's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-sites-bombing-hegseth-trump-4014575fca3923cf29772d1c0b876206">bombing campaign</a>&nbsp;against Iran's nuclear program, which he said the flyover was meant to honor. “Promises made, promises kept, and we've kept them.”</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751740938382.jpeg" alt="photo White House" />
                        <figcaption>photo White House</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>The White House was hung with red, white and blue bunting for the Independence Day festivities. The U.S. Marine Band played patriotic marches.</p>

🎥 Dramatic flyover at White House Fourth of July picnic

<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🚨 THE ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL IS NOW OFFICIALLY THE LAW OF THE LAND! <a href="https://t.co/mOpYN0tiZ0">pic.twitter.com/mOpYN0tiZ0</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1941253557665321187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

🎥 Trump signs Big, Beautiful Bill into law

&nbsp;President Donald Trump signed the Big, Beautiful Bill into law during a ceremony at the White House Friday afternoon.&nbsp;

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751667635743.png" alt="Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, center right wearing glasses, is on hand for the historic signing ceremony.-image from White House video" />
                        <figcaption>Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, center right wearing glasses, is on hand for the historic signing ceremony.-image from White House video</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>&nbsp;President Donald Trump signed the Big, Beautiful Bill into law during a ceremony at the White House Friday afternoon.&nbsp;</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🚨 THE ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL IS NOW OFFICIALLY THE LAW OF THE LAND! <a href="https://t.co/mOpYN0tiZ0">pic.twitter.com/mOpYN0tiZ0</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1941253557665321187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751666108451.png" alt="Missouri 8th District Rep. Jason Smith and Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall greet First Lady Melania Trump-image from White House video" />
                        <figcaption>Missouri 8th District Rep. Jason Smith and Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall greet First Lady Melania Trump-image from White House video</figcaption>
                    </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Getting ready to watch President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> sign the One Big, Beautiful Bill on America’s birthday 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/L3NZojsnQ8">pic.twitter.com/L3NZojsnQ8</a></p>&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1941247991123411282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

 🎥Mo. Congressman in attendance as Big, Beautiful Bill signed into law

TOPEKA –The Kansas Department of Health and Environment&nbsp;(KDHE)&nbsp;and&nbsp;local health departments&nbsp;continue to respond to measles cases in Kansas.

On Friday, the&nbsp; KDHE reported a measles exposure that occurred at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita&nbsp;so individuals can take steps to protect their health and help prevent further spread.&nbsp;There is no risk of measles exposure outside&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;specific unit,&nbsp;dates and times&nbsp;listed. Individuals who were not in the affected&nbsp;unit&nbsp;during that&nbsp;time, including those in other parts of the hospital or its departments,&nbsp;are&nbsp;not&nbsp;considered exposed.

On Wednesday, the KDHE reported three new cases of measles over the past week in the state for a total of 83 cases in 11 counties.

The measles virus can stay in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours. Because the measles virus is highly contagious, anyone who was a patient, staff or visitor to the fifth-floor pediatric unit in Building 4 at Wesley Medical Center on any of the dates and times listed above may have been exposed to measles and should take the following steps:&nbsp;&nbsp;

Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus. It spreads easily when an infected person talks, sneezes or coughs. People who are not vaccinated or lack immunity are especially at risk of becoming infected. Symptoms of measles typically begin with a high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Three to five days after symptoms begin, a skin rash develops and usually starts on the face and spreads down to the neck, trunk, arms and legs.&nbsp;

The best way to prevent measles is to get the MMR vaccine. If you have had measles or have been vaccinated, your risk of contracting the disease is very low. However, a few people (about three out of 100) can still get measles even after two MMR vaccine doses if they are near someone who is sick.&nbsp;

For questions, contact the KDHE Epidemiology Hotline by phone at 877-427-7317 or by email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:kdhe.epihotline@ks.gov">kdhe.epihotline@ks.gov</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

For more information about measles, how to find your vaccine records, and answers to common questions, visit the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Measles Resource Hub at&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-1.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.kdhe.ks.gov%2Fmeasles%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/01000197d6d48f8c-655dcf99-c212-4ab7-9b7a-feb6d4cd27e3-000000/79OTFaS4apBq2mxz6LWVEqeelC6ZsgOfH4u1hSxA6bM=412">www.kdhe.ks.gov/measles</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1743085628490.png" alt="Photo by Tatiana Lanzieri Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" />
                        <figcaption>Photo by Tatiana Lanzieri Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>TOPEKA –The Kansas Department of Health and Environment&nbsp;(KDHE)&nbsp;and&nbsp;local health departments&nbsp;continue to respond to measles cases in Kansas.</p><p>On Friday, the&nbsp; KDHE reported a measles exposure that occurred at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita&nbsp;so individuals can take steps to protect their health and help prevent further spread.&nbsp;There is no risk of measles exposure outside&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;specific unit,&nbsp;dates and times&nbsp;listed. Individuals who were not in the affected&nbsp;unit&nbsp;during that&nbsp;time, including those in other parts of the hospital or its departments,&nbsp;are&nbsp;not&nbsp;considered exposed.</p><ul>
                        <li>Location:&nbsp;Fifth-Floor Pediatric Unit, Building 4, Wesley Medical Center</li><li>Address:&nbsp;550 N Hillside St, Wichita, KS 67214</li><li>Dates and times:&nbsp;Tuesday, July 1, 2025, from 10 p.m. until Thursday, July 3, 2025, 4:45 p.m.&nbsp;</li>
                    </ul><p>On Wednesday, the KDHE reported three new cases of measles over the past week in the state for a total of 83 cases in 11 counties.</p><p>The measles virus can stay in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours. Because the measles virus is highly contagious, anyone who was a patient, staff or visitor to the fifth-floor pediatric unit in Building 4 at Wesley Medical Center on any of the dates and times listed above may have been exposed to measles and should take the following steps:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><ul>
                        <li>Understand if you are susceptible to infection.&nbsp;Check if you’ve received a measles-containing vaccine, like the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, have medical documentation of past measles infection, or have laboratory evidence of immunity. People who are not vaccinated and have not previously had measles are especially vulnerable to becoming infected.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Watch for symptoms.&nbsp;Monitor yourself for 21 days after your exposure. Look out for any symptoms—especially a fever and a new or unexplained skin rash—and contact your healthcare provider or local health department if symptoms develop.If you were at the fifth-floor pediatric unit, Building 4, Wesley Medical Center in Wichita on:&nbsp;July 1, 2025, monitor until the end of Tuesday, July 22.July 2, 2025, monitor until the end of Wednesday, July 23.July 3, 2025, monitor until the end of Thursday, July 24.</li><li>If you were at the fifth-floor pediatric unit, Building 4, Wesley Medical Center in Wichita on:&nbsp;July 1, 2025, monitor until the end of Tuesday, July 22.July 2, 2025, monitor until the end of Wednesday, July 23.July 3, 2025, monitor until the end of Thursday, July 24.</li><li>July 1, 2025, monitor until the end of Tuesday, July 22.</li><li>July 2, 2025, monitor until the end of Wednesday, July 23.</li><li>July 3, 2025, monitor until the end of Thursday, July 24.</li>
                    </ul><ul>
                        <li>Avoid high-risk settings.&nbsp;If you are not&nbsp;immune, consider staying home to prevent the spread of measles.&nbsp;If you cannot remain home,&nbsp;stay away from large gatherings and&nbsp;people&nbsp;that&nbsp;might&nbsp;be susceptible to measles, including those&nbsp;who&nbsp;are unvaccinated, pregnant women, infants, or people who are immunocompromised.&nbsp;If you need medical care, call your provider ahead of time&nbsp;and let them know you may have been exposed to measles&nbsp;so they can take any necessary steps&nbsp;to&nbsp;protect others from potential measles exposure.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Talk to&nbsp;a healthcare provider.&nbsp;If you have any questions about your health or your immunity status, contact&nbsp;your&nbsp;healthcare provider. If you are not immune to measles,&nbsp;a healthcare provider&nbsp;can&nbsp;determine&nbsp;whether you need&nbsp;treatment&nbsp;to help prevent or lessen the severity of infection.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
                    </ul><p>Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus. It spreads easily when an infected person talks, sneezes or coughs. People who are not vaccinated or lack immunity are especially at risk of becoming infected. Symptoms of measles typically begin with a high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Three to five days after symptoms begin, a skin rash develops and usually starts on the face and spreads down to the neck, trunk, arms and legs.&nbsp;</p><p>The best way to prevent measles is to get the MMR vaccine. If you have had measles or have been vaccinated, your risk of contracting the disease is very low. However, a few people (about three out of 100) can still get measles even after two MMR vaccine doses if they are near someone who is sick.&nbsp;</p><p>For questions, contact the KDHE Epidemiology Hotline by phone at 877-427-7317 or by email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:kdhe.epihotline@ks.gov">kdhe.epihotline@ks.gov</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>For more information about measles, how to find your vaccine records, and answers to common questions, visit the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Measles Resource Hub at&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-1.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.kdhe.ks.gov%2Fmeasles%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/01000197d6d48f8c-655dcf99-c212-4ab7-9b7a-feb6d4cd27e3-000000/79OTFaS4apBq2mxz6LWVEqeelC6ZsgOfH4u1hSxA6bM=412">www.kdhe.ks.gov/measles</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

KDHE: Measles exposure risk at a Kansas hospital

<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there. We&#39;re gonna build a little - Dana&#39;s gonna do it... Championship fight, full fight, like 20, 25,000 people. And we&#39;re going to do that as part of A250&quot;<br>- Trump in Iowa <a href="https://t.co/5Dkam2IFWU">pic.twitter.com/5Dkam2IFWU</a></p>&mdash; Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1941078076903043230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

🎥Trump says he plans to host UFC fight at the White House

A Jackson County judge on Thursday blocked enforcement of most of Missouri’s laws limiting abortion access and where abortion services can be offered

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rudi-keller/">RUDI KELLER</a><br><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/"><i>Missouri Independent</i></a>

Abortion services will resume in Missouri on Monday following a Jackson County court order blocking enforcement of almost all of the state’s laws restricting the procedure.

On Thursday afternoon, Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang, for the third time,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/2416-CV31931Comp%20HealthORDER.PDF?courtCode=16&amp;di=28244257" target="_blank">issued an order</a>&nbsp;to enforce the abortion rights amendment approved by voters in November. In her previous orders, one in December and one in February,&nbsp; Zhang pointed to the voter-approved constitutional amendment in issuing a temporary injunction blocking abortion restrictions enacted over numerous years by state lawmakers.

State lawmakers have passed a ballot measure asking voters&nbsp; to repeal the abortion rights amendment in 2026, a move being&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/07/03/lawsuit-challenges-ballot-language-for-proposed-missouri-abortion-ban/">challenged in Cole County Circuit Court</a>.

Surgical abortions resumed after the February decision but&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/05/27/missouri-supreme-court-reinstates-abortion-restrictions-imposing-de-facto-ban/">ended in May</a>&nbsp;when the Missouri Supreme Court struck down Zhang’s orders on technical legal grounds.&nbsp;

In a joint statement, the ACLU of Missouri and Planned Parenthood affiliates said the Kansas City clinic will resume abortion services on Monday. The statement said the ruling was incomplete because it did not enjoin enforcement of a state law requiring complication plans for abortion patients.&nbsp;

“Abortion is legal again in Missouri because voters demanded it and we fought for it,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.&nbsp;

Zhang found that the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">total ban on abortions</a>&nbsp;that took effect in 2022 clearly conflicted with the rights secured by the abortion amendment, which received 52% of the vote in November.

She also blocked enforcement of a law requiring two appointments 72 hours apart to obtain abortion services and that women be required to take state-produced material on fetal development.

The order blocks enforcement of laws requiring special abortion facility licensing and that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.&nbsp;

“The regulations require physicians to perform certain exams and tests that are unnecessary when the physicians themselves are authorized and enabled to make the determination on what is and is not necessary for their individual patients,” Zhang wrote. “Additionally, miscarriage management can be provided on an outpatient basis without a special facility license.”

Zhang’s order keeps in place rules that only doctors can provide abortion services and that the woman seeking an abortion have an in-person appointment. The appointment can, however, be by telemedicine, Zhang ruled as she blocked a separate rule.

Overall, Zhang’s ruling means the rights secured by the abortion amendment can be exercised.&nbsp;

“As plaintiffs argue, they and their patients are suffering serious harm, whereas defendants only stand to lose the ability temporarily to enforce some laws that are likely to be held unconstitutional and which further no valid compelling state interest,” Zhang wrote.

In a statement, Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office said in a statement that he would immediately appeal the decision.

“We respectfully but firmly disagree with the Court’s decision to once again block the enforcement of Missouri’s duly enacted health and safety regulations,” the statement read. “These requirements were designed to ensure that women receive care in sanitary conditions from qualified professionals, with emergency safeguards in place.”

While services will resume in Kansas City on Monday, other clinics will open up appointment books quickly.

“This decision is a step forward toward fully realizing Missourians’ right to reproductive freedom,” Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, said in the release, “and the staff at our Central West End health center in St. Louis will work as quickly as possible to resume scheduling abortion appointments.”

<h2>A Jackson County judge on Thursday blocked enforcement of most of Missouri’s laws limiting abortion access and where abortion services can be offered</h2><p>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rudi-keller/">RUDI KELLER</a><br><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/"><i>Missouri Independent</i></a></p><p>Abortion services will resume in Missouri on Monday following a Jackson County court order blocking enforcement of almost all of the state’s laws restricting the procedure.</p><p>On Thursday afternoon, Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang, for the third time,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/2416-CV31931Comp%20HealthORDER.PDF?courtCode=16&amp;di=28244257" target="_blank">issued an order</a>&nbsp;to enforce the abortion rights amendment approved by voters in November. In her previous orders, one in December and one in February,&nbsp; Zhang pointed to the voter-approved constitutional amendment in issuing a temporary injunction blocking abortion restrictions enacted over numerous years by state lawmakers.</p><p>State lawmakers have passed a ballot measure asking voters&nbsp; to repeal the abortion rights amendment in 2026, a move being&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/07/03/lawsuit-challenges-ballot-language-for-proposed-missouri-abortion-ban/">challenged in Cole County Circuit Court</a>.</p><p>Surgical abortions resumed after the February decision but&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/05/27/missouri-supreme-court-reinstates-abortion-restrictions-imposing-de-facto-ban/">ended in May</a>&nbsp;when the Missouri Supreme Court struck down Zhang’s orders on technical legal grounds.&nbsp;</p><p>In a joint statement, the ACLU of Missouri and Planned Parenthood affiliates said the Kansas City clinic will resume abortion services on Monday. The statement said the ruling was incomplete because it did not enjoin enforcement of a state law requiring complication plans for abortion patients.&nbsp;</p><p>“Abortion is legal again in Missouri because voters demanded it and we fought for it,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.&nbsp;</p><p>Zhang found that the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/24/abortion-is-now-illegal-in-missouri-in-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-ruling/">total ban on abortions</a>&nbsp;that took effect in 2022 clearly conflicted with the rights secured by the abortion amendment, which received 52% of the vote in November.</p><p>She also blocked enforcement of a law requiring two appointments 72 hours apart to obtain abortion services and that women be required to take state-produced material on fetal development.</p><p>The order blocks enforcement of laws requiring special abortion facility licensing and that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.&nbsp;</p><p>“The regulations require physicians to perform certain exams and tests that are unnecessary when the physicians themselves are authorized and enabled to make the determination on what is and is not necessary for their individual patients,” Zhang wrote. “Additionally, miscarriage management can be provided on an outpatient basis without a special facility license.”</p><p>Zhang’s order keeps in place rules that only doctors can provide abortion services and that the woman seeking an abortion have an in-person appointment. The appointment can, however, be by telemedicine, Zhang ruled as she blocked a separate rule.</p><p>Overall, Zhang’s ruling means the rights secured by the abortion amendment can be exercised.&nbsp;</p><p>“As plaintiffs argue, they and their patients are suffering serious harm, whereas defendants only stand to lose the ability temporarily to enforce some laws that are likely to be held unconstitutional and which further no valid compelling state interest,” Zhang wrote.</p><p>In a statement, Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office said in a statement that he would immediately appeal the decision.</p><p>“We respectfully but firmly disagree with the Court’s decision to once again block the enforcement of Missouri’s duly enacted health and safety regulations,” the statement read. “These requirements were designed to ensure that women receive care in sanitary conditions from qualified professionals, with emergency safeguards in place.”</p><p>While services will resume in Kansas City on Monday, other clinics will open up appointment books quickly.</p><p>“This decision is a step forward toward fully realizing Missourians’ right to reproductive freedom,” Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, said in the release, “and the staff at our Central West End health center in St. Louis will work as quickly as possible to resume scheduling abortion appointments.”</p>

Missouri abortion rights amendment trumps most restrictions, judge rules

KANSAS CITY—A second person has died from a mass shooting that occurred June 14 in Kansas City.

KCPD homicide detectives were notified 44-year-old Ronnie Hardman was pronounced deceased by hospital staff Thursday morning, according to&nbsp; Officer Alayna Gonzalez.

Just after 1:30 a.m.&nbsp; June 14, patrol officers were dispatched to 35th and Prospect on a reported shooting. When officers arrived they were directed to the gas station parking lot. They located multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds.&nbsp; Officers began performing live saving measures and ordered EMS to the scene. On scene officers located a total of four victims. An adult female victim had critical injuries, one adult male victim had critical injuries, and two adult male victims had non life threatening injuries. 

All of the victims were transported to local hospitals. The adult female victim, later identified as&nbsp;24-year-old Monique K. Smith was pronounced deceased a short time later by medical personnel.

Additional officers responded to a separate shooting, a short distance away, in the 2000 block of East Linwood where an adult male victim was located. 

Police determined his injuries were as a result of the shooting at 35th and Prospect. He was transported to a local hospital with critical injuries. Police have not reported an arrest or possible suspect details in the case.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749903126084.png" alt="Photos Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
                        <figcaption>Photos Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>KANSAS CITY—A second person has died from a mass shooting that occurred June 14 in Kansas City.</p><p>KCPD homicide detectives were notified 44-year-old Ronnie Hardman was pronounced deceased by hospital staff Thursday morning, according to&nbsp; Officer Alayna Gonzalez.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749903072954.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte." />
                        <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte.</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Just after 1:30 a.m.&nbsp; June 14, patrol officers were dispatched to 35th and Prospect on a reported shooting. When officers arrived they were directed to the gas station parking lot. They located multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds.&nbsp; Officers began performing live saving measures and ordered EMS to the scene. On scene officers located a total of four victims. An adult female victim had critical injuries, one adult male victim had critical injuries, and two adult male victims had non life threatening injuries. </p><p>All of the victims were transported to local hospitals. The adult female victim, later identified as&nbsp;24-year-old Monique K. Smith was pronounced deceased a short time later by medical personnel.</p><p>Additional officers responded to a separate shooting, a short distance away, in the 2000 block of East Linwood where an adult male victim was located. </p><p>Police determined his injuries were as a result of the shooting at 35th and Prospect. He was transported to a local hospital with critical injuries. Police have not reported an arrest or possible suspect details in the case.</p>

KCPD: 2nd victim dies from injuries in June mass shooting

WASHINGTON —House Republicans lifted&nbsp;President Donald Trump’s&nbsp;$4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill&nbsp;to final passage Thursday. On social media, members of the Missouri Congressional delegation shared their thoughts on passage of the bill.

<p>WASHINGTON —House Republicans lifted&nbsp;President Donald Trump’s&nbsp;$4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill&nbsp;to final passage Thursday. On social media, members of the Missouri Congressional delegation shared their thoughts on passage of the bill.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers historic tax relief for families, seniors and American workers. It cuts wasteful spending, secures the border, and unleashes American energy, while ensuring we have a strong military. <br><br>As Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure…</p>&mdash; Rep. Sam Graves (@RepSamGraves) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepSamGraves/status/1940845614117294081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PASSED: THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL!!! 🇺🇸</p>&mdash; Rep. Jason Smith (@RepJasonSmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJasonSmith/status/1940840893478736111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hawley Praises House Passage of Reconciliation Bill with Historic RECA Expansion Included<a href="https://t.co/bEkUvOFpZY">https://t.co/bEkUvOFpZY</a></p>&mdash; Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenHawleyPress/status/1940859061706408099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wagner Votes to Prevent Largest Tax Increase in American History and Strengthen Medicaid<a href="https://t.co/GKTEU9xDOK">https://t.co/GKTEU9xDOK</a><br><br>🧵 ⬇️⬇️⬇️</p>&mdash; Ann Wagner (@RepAnnWagner) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepAnnWagner/status/1940842897869537634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I applaud the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” It is a major win for the American people and President Trump’s agenda. <a href="https://t.co/8qEoHAehLS">pic.twitter.com/8qEoHAehLS</a></p>&mdash; Bob Onder (@RepBobOnder) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepBobOnder/status/1940844273739673685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Proud to deliver on the America First mandate today. 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/EGJGanFkko">pic.twitter.com/EGJGanFkko</a></p>&mdash; Rep. Mark Alford (@RepMarkAlford) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMarkAlford/status/1940850791281316275?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/hg2qWM6Qbo">pic.twitter.com/hg2qWM6Qbo</a></p>&mdash; Rep. Eric Burlison (@RepEricBurlison) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepEricBurlison/status/1940840922209833398?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We did it.<br><br>Congress has officially PASSED the One Big Beautiful Bill.<br><br>A historic, once-in-a-lifetime chance to secure our border, reverse mass migration, slash taxes for American families and reverse American decline.<br><br>Now on to President Trump’s desk. 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/LXsVGzN0Zg">pic.twitter.com/LXsVGzN0Zg</a></p>&mdash; Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenEricSchmitt/status/1940841096357318774?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

Mo. GOP lawmakers celebrate passage of the Big, Beautiful Bill

<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: “From 1776 all the way through today, American patriots have won triumph after triumph, we’ve had victory after victory, and let nothing stand in the way of the USA.” 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/hfq0JoVIgu">pic.twitter.com/hfq0JoVIgu</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1940947450841518461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: Exactly one year from tomorrow, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of America&#39;s founding...<br><br>This evening, we are officially launching &quot;AMERICA 250&quot; — an enormous, year-long, nationwide celebration of our heritage, our flag, and our glorious American freedom. 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/ffQuiio1WY">pic.twitter.com/ffQuiio1WY</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1940938639464452197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &quot;As we prepare to celebrate two and a half centuries of freedom, I am inviting America’s great religious communities to pray for our nation and for our people... as we chart our course toward the next 250 years, let us rededicate ourselves to ONE NATION UNDER GOD.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ooso9kLNZf">pic.twitter.com/ooso9kLNZf</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1940945209661043064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> announces the &quot;Patriot Games&quot; as part of the America 250 celebration — in which top high school athletes from all 50 states participate in a nationally televised sporting event. <a href="https://t.co/02rnXtfgzV">pic.twitter.com/02rnXtfgzV</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1940942910167326808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

🎥Trump kicks off yearlong celebration of America's 250th anniversary 

By:&nbsp;<b>NICOLAS FIERRO<br></b><i>Salina Post</i>

ELLSWORTH COUNTY - Two people are missing and one person was recovered at Kanopolis Lake in Ellsworth County.

According to Ellsworth County Sheriff Kenny Bernard, at around<b>&nbsp;</b>7:15-7:30pm<b>&nbsp;</b>on<b>&nbsp;</b>Thursday<b>,&nbsp;</b>Ellsworth County dispatch reported three people who went missing after being on a boat at the lake.

A 14-year old girl was recovered by an individual in the area and was taken for treatment.

According to Sheriff  Bernard, a 40-year old man and a 14-year old girl are the two who are still reportedly missing.

Multiple agencies including the Rice County Sheriff's Office, Ellsworth County Sheriff's Office, Marquette County Sheriff's Office, Marquette Fire Department, Ellsworth Fire Department and Law Enforcement Dive Teams from Salina and the Kansas Game Wardens were assisting with the investigating at the scene.

Sheila Watkins a resident of Salina who was at the scene after the report, commented on the investigation.

"It is scary and sad," said Watkins. "I am hoping for the best possible scenario and I am just praying for the families."

<i><b>This investigation is currently ongoing.</b></i><i><b>&nbsp;Salina Post will provide updates once received.</b></i>

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751619956983.png" alt="Scene at 11:30p.m. at Kanopolis Lake as multiple agencies search for two people, photo by Nicolas Fierro Salina Post" />
                        <figcaption>Scene at 11:30p.m. at Kanopolis Lake as multiple agencies search for two people, photo by Nicolas Fierro Salina Post</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By:&nbsp;<b>NICOLAS FIERRO<br></b><i>Salina Post</i></p><p>ELLSWORTH COUNTY - Two people are missing and one person was recovered at Kanopolis Lake in Ellsworth County.</p><p>According to Ellsworth County Sheriff Kenny Bernard, at around<b>&nbsp;</b>7:15-7:30pm<b>&nbsp;</b>on<b>&nbsp;</b>Thursday<b>,&nbsp;</b>Ellsworth County dispatch reported three people who went missing after being on a boat at the lake.</p><p>A 14-year old girl was recovered by an individual in the area and was taken for treatment.</p><p>According to Sheriff  Bernard, a 40-year old man and a 14-year old girl are the two who are still reportedly missing.</p><p>Multiple agencies including the Rice County Sheriff's Office, Ellsworth County Sheriff's Office, Marquette County Sheriff's Office, Marquette Fire Department, Ellsworth Fire Department and Law Enforcement Dive Teams from Salina and the Kansas Game Wardens were assisting with the investigating at the scene.</p><p>Sheila Watkins a resident of Salina who was at the scene after the report, commented on the investigation.</p><p>"It is scary and sad," said Watkins. "I am hoping for the best possible scenario and I am just praying for the families."</p><p><i><b>This investigation is currently ongoing.</b></i><i><b>&nbsp;Salina Post will provide updates once received.</b></i></p>

Sheriff: Man and teen missing at Kansas lake

A Clackamas County, Oregon jury found former University of Kansas star and Portland Trail Blazer Ben McLemore guilty Thursday of raping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in 2021, according to a media release from Clackamas County.

McLemore, 32, was convicted in Clackamas County Circuit Court of Rape in the First Degree, Unlawful Sexual Penetration in the First Degree and Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree. He will be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. on July 9.

"We recognize there are those who fear individuals with celebrity status or a position of prominence can avoid prosecution. Not in Clackamas County. This case demonstrates my office prosecutes criminal acts regardless of the offender's community status," said District Attorney John Wentworth.

The sexual assault occurred on October 3, 2021, after a party at the Lake Oswego home of Robert Covington, another former Trail Blazer. Covington and McLemore were teammates at the time.

The victim had been drinking heavily and was "hammered unconscious drunk" that night, prosecutor Scott Healy told jurors. It's the most alcohol the woman ever had to drink in her life and the most intoxicated she's ever been, Healy said.

The victim vomited earlier in the evening and witnesses said she had difficulty walking, slurred speech and could barely lift her head, Healy said.

The victim passed out on a large living room couch around 2 a.m. Sometime later McLemore later began sleeping on the same couch.

Around 6 a.m., the victim regained partial consciousness when McLemore sexually penetrated her with his fingers then began having sexual intercourse with her.

The victim was "fading in and out" of consciousness, frightened and traumatized, Healy said. Later that day she sought a specialized medical examination for victims of sexual assault.

"(The defendant) needs to be held accountable for what he did. You can't do that to somebody, let alone somebody that you don't know either. You don't do that to people and just be able to get away with it. I don't care who you are," the victim said during her trial testimony.

Defense attorneys for McLemore disputed the victim's account of events. They claimed she initiated sexual contact and consented to it.

McLemore's attorneys asserted that although the victim and McLemore were both intoxicated and at the time of the encounter, the victim was sober enough to consent.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751586386443.png" alt="McLemore- photo Clackamas County " />
                        <figcaption>McLemore- photo Clackamas County </figcaption>
                    </figure><p>A Clackamas County, Oregon jury found former University of Kansas star and Portland Trail Blazer Ben McLemore guilty Thursday of raping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in 2021, according to a media release from Clackamas County.</p><p>McLemore, 32, was convicted in Clackamas County Circuit Court of Rape in the First Degree, Unlawful Sexual Penetration in the First Degree and Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree. He will be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. on July 9.</p><p>"We recognize there are those who fear individuals with celebrity status or a position of prominence can avoid prosecution. Not in Clackamas County. This case demonstrates my office prosecutes criminal acts regardless of the offender's community status," said District Attorney John Wentworth.</p><p>The sexual assault occurred on October 3, 2021, after a party at the Lake Oswego home of Robert Covington, another former Trail Blazer. Covington and McLemore were teammates at the time.</p><p>The victim had been drinking heavily and was "hammered unconscious drunk" that night, prosecutor Scott Healy told jurors. It's the most alcohol the woman ever had to drink in her life and the most intoxicated she's ever been, Healy said.</p><p>The victim vomited earlier in the evening and witnesses said she had difficulty walking, slurred speech and could barely lift her head, Healy said.</p><p>The victim passed out on a large living room couch around 2 a.m. Sometime later McLemore later began sleeping on the same couch.</p><p>Around 6 a.m., the victim regained partial consciousness when McLemore sexually penetrated her with his fingers then began having sexual intercourse with her.</p><p>The victim was "fading in and out" of consciousness, frightened and traumatized, Healy said. Later that day she sought a specialized medical examination for victims of sexual assault.</p><p>"(The defendant) needs to be held accountable for what he did. You can't do that to somebody, let alone somebody that you don't know either. You don't do that to people and just be able to get away with it. I don't care who you are," the victim said during her trial testimony.</p><p>Defense attorneys for McLemore disputed the victim's account of events. They claimed she initiated sexual contact and consented to it.</p><p>McLemore's attorneys asserted that although the victim and McLemore were both intoxicated and at the time of the encounter, the victim was sober enough to consent.</p>

Former KU player convicted of rape, sexual assault in Oregon

PHILLIPSBURG, Kan.<b> —&nbsp;</b>The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday evening, June 27, in Phillipsburg, Kansas, resulting in the deaths of Phillips County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Gaede and suspect Kolton Griffith.

Over the past several days, detectives and forensic investigators have processed the scene, conducted interviews, and collected evidence. The Sheriff’s Office is now providing new details about the sequence of events that led to the deadly encounter, according Sedgwick County Sheriff's Spokesman Brandon Stitt.

At approximately 6:02 p.m., the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office received its first report of an explosion near 1st and E Streets. The responding deputy was initially unable to locate the source and cleared the area, believing fireworks may have caused the noise.

By 8:31 p.m., dispatchers received three additional calls reporting loud booms in the same vicinity. Deputy Gaede responded, spoke with concerned residents, and began searching for the source of the explosions. He contacted Griffith, who lived at 899 1st Street. Griffith denied involvement in the detonations, and Deputy Gaede cleared the call around 8:48 p.m. but remained nearby.

Believing the explosions were not commercial-grade fireworks, Deputy Gaede began reviewing Kansas statutes related to the criminal use of explosives.

At 9:18 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office received another report of an explosion from the same area. Deputy Gaede, who was still in the area, observed smoke and made contact with Griffith, who was standing in his front yard. Griffith admitted setting off the explosive device, stating he intended to provoke one of the citizens who had reported the previous explosion.

Determining that Griffith had violated state law regarding the criminal use of explosives—a felony in Kansas—Deputy Gaede attempted to arrest him. After securing one handcuff on Griffith’s left wrist, Griffith resisted, turned away, and drew a concealed revolver from his waistband. He fired five rounds, critically wounding Deputy Gaede. Despite his injuries, Deputy Gaede returned fire, discharging eight rounds and killing Griffith.

A backup deputy arrived within seconds and began life-saving efforts. Deputy Gaede was transported to a local hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.

As part of the ongoing investigation, detectives obtained a search warrant for Griffith’s residence. The Kansas Highway Patrol Hazardous Devices Unit assisted with the search, which uncovered more than 33 pounds of explosive materials, including ammonium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate, and commercial blasting caps. Investigators also recovered over 20 firearms and a large stockpile of ammunition.

The investigation has not revealed that Griffith targeted Deputy Gaede.

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate. Upon completion, the case will be submitted to the Phillips County Attorney for review.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1751127258786.png" alt="Deputy Brandon Gaede" />
                        <figcaption>Deputy Brandon Gaede</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>PHILLIPSBURG, Kan.<b> —&nbsp;</b>The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday evening, June 27, in Phillipsburg, Kansas, resulting in the deaths of Phillips County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Gaede and suspect Kolton Griffith.</p><p>Over the past several days, detectives and forensic investigators have processed the scene, conducted interviews, and collected evidence. The Sheriff’s Office is now providing new details about the sequence of events that led to the deadly encounter, according Sedgwick County Sheriff's Spokesman Brandon Stitt.</p><p>At approximately 6:02 p.m., the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office received its first report of an explosion near 1st and E Streets. The responding deputy was initially unable to locate the source and cleared the area, believing fireworks may have caused the noise.</p><p>By 8:31 p.m., dispatchers received three additional calls reporting loud booms in the same vicinity. Deputy Gaede responded, spoke with concerned residents, and began searching for the source of the explosions. He contacted Griffith, who lived at 899 1st Street. Griffith denied involvement in the detonations, and Deputy Gaede cleared the call around 8:48 p.m. but remained nearby.</p><p>Believing the explosions were not commercial-grade fireworks, Deputy Gaede began reviewing Kansas statutes related to the criminal use of explosives.</p><p>At 9:18 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office received another report of an explosion from the same area. Deputy Gaede, who was still in the area, observed smoke and made contact with Griffith, who was standing in his front yard. Griffith admitted setting off the explosive device, stating he intended to provoke one of the citizens who had reported the previous explosion.</p><p>Determining that Griffith had violated state law regarding the criminal use of explosives—a felony in Kansas—Deputy Gaede attempted to arrest him. After securing one handcuff on Griffith’s left wrist, Griffith resisted, turned away, and drew a concealed revolver from his waistband. He fired five rounds, critically wounding Deputy Gaede. Despite his injuries, Deputy Gaede returned fire, discharging eight rounds and killing Griffith.</p><p>A backup deputy arrived within seconds and began life-saving efforts. Deputy Gaede was transported to a local hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.</p><p>As part of the ongoing investigation, detectives obtained a search warrant for Griffith’s residence. The Kansas Highway Patrol Hazardous Devices Unit assisted with the search, which uncovered more than 33 pounds of explosive materials, including ammonium perchlorate, ammonium nitrate, and commercial blasting caps. Investigators also recovered over 20 firearms and a large stockpile of ammunition.</p><p>The investigation has not revealed that Griffith targeted Deputy Gaede.</p><p>The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate. Upon completion, the case will be submitted to the Phillips County Attorney for review.</p>

New details on the encounter that left Kan. sheriff's deputy, suspect dead

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

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday that she and her husband of more than 40 years were granted a divorce.

She decided to speak publicly about the amicable end of her marriage because of inquiries about the status of her relationship with retired physician Ted Daughety.

Kelly, 75, said the pair remained on friendly terms before and after the divorce was finalized in October. They were married in 1983 and have two adult daughters.

“Throughout my time in public office, I’ve always guarded my family’s privacy. It’s been my policy to keep my personal life separate from my public one to the extent possible,” Kelly said.

She said it had “come to my attention that my marital status has become a topic of some speculation, so I will share that Ted and I divorced in October of 2024.”

“It was amicable and mutual, and we both continue to share in the lives of our family,” the governor said.

The Democratic governor’s brief statement was the first official confirmation of a split. The governor resides at the Topeka residence for Kansas governors known as Cedar Crest. Her family home in the Potwin neighborhood of central Topeka has been sold.

In a statement, Daughety said that “Laura and I made this decision together, based on what worked best for us and for our family.”

Kelly was elected to the Kansas Senate to represent a Topeka-area district in 2005 and remained in that job for nearly 15 years. She was elected governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022.

Daughety was a pulmonary and sleep disorder specialist who practiced medicine for decades in Kansas.

Divorce among sitting U.S. governors hasn’t been common, but Democrat John Carlin ended two marriages while serving as governor of Kansas.

Carlin took office in 1979 and received a divorce from Ramona Hawkinson in 1980. Carlin and his second wife, Karen Bigsby Hurley, were divorced in 1985 during his second term.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751579549104.png" alt=" Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she and former Topeka physician Ted Daughety, shown together during Kelly's inauguration ceremony in 2023, have been granted a divorce. They were married in 1983 and moved to Topeka in the late 1980s. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
                        <figcaption> Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she and former Topeka physician Ted Daughety, shown together during Kelly's inauguration ceremony in 2023, have been granted a divorce. They were married in 1983 and moved to Topeka in the late 1980s. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p><b>By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a></b><a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/"><i>Kansas Reflector</i></a></p><p>TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday that she and her husband of more than 40 years were granted a divorce.</p><p>She decided to speak publicly about the amicable end of her marriage because of inquiries about the status of her relationship with retired physician Ted Daughety.</p><p>Kelly, 75, said the pair remained on friendly terms before and after the divorce was finalized in October. They were married in 1983 and have two adult daughters.</p><p>“Throughout my time in public office, I’ve always guarded my family’s privacy. It’s been my policy to keep my personal life separate from my public one to the extent possible,” Kelly said.</p><p>She said it had “come to my attention that my marital status has become a topic of some speculation, so I will share that Ted and I divorced in October of 2024.”</p><p>“It was amicable and mutual, and we both continue to share in the lives of our family,” the governor said.</p><p>The Democratic governor’s brief statement was the first official confirmation of a split. The governor resides at the Topeka residence for Kansas governors known as Cedar Crest. Her family home in the Potwin neighborhood of central Topeka has been sold.</p><p>In a statement, Daughety said that “Laura and I made this decision together, based on what worked best for us and for our family.”</p><p>Kelly was elected to the Kansas Senate to represent a Topeka-area district in 2005 and remained in that job for nearly 15 years. She was elected governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022.</p><p>Daughety was a pulmonary and sleep disorder specialist who practiced medicine for decades in Kansas.</p><p>Divorce among sitting U.S. governors hasn’t been common, but Democrat John Carlin ended two marriages while serving as governor of Kansas.</p><p>Carlin took office in 1979 and received a divorce from Ramona Hawkinson in 1980. Carlin and his second wife, Karen Bigsby Hurley, were divorced in 1985 during his second term.</p>

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly confirms divorce from spouse of more than 40 years

KANSAS CIty —Authorities are working to determine the cause of an apartment fire in Kansas City.

Just before 4a.m. Thursday, crews responded to a reported apartment fire in the 2700 block of E 30th Street in Kansas City, according to Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins.

Crews reported smoke and fire showing from a two-story occupied apartment building on arrival. Searches of the structure were conducted. The fire was brought under control just after 4:30 a.m. One occupant was treated for smoke inhalation on scene but declined transport to the hospital. The Red Cross has been ordered for 7 adults and 3 children.&nbsp;

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751567656218.png" alt="" />
                        <figcaption></figcaption>
                    </figure><p>KANSAS CIty —Authorities are working to determine the cause of an apartment fire in Kansas City.</p><p>Just before 4a.m. Thursday, crews responded to a reported apartment fire in the 2700 block of E 30th Street in Kansas City, according to Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins.</p><p>Crews reported smoke and fire showing from a two-story occupied apartment building on arrival. Searches of the structure were conducted. The fire was brought under control just after 4:30 a.m. One occupant was treated for smoke inhalation on scene but declined transport to the hospital. The Red Cross has been ordered for 7 adults and 3 children.&nbsp;</p>

Fire at KC apartment while 7 adults, 3 children were sleeping

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">Jennifer Shutt</a>

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans cleared the “big, beautiful bill” for President Donald Trump’s signature Thursday, marking an end to the painstaking months-long negotiations that began just after voters gave the GOP unified control of Washington during last year’s elections.

The final 218-214 vote on the expansive tax and spending cuts package marked a significant victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who were able to unify centrist and far-right members of the party against long odds and narrow majorities.

But the legislation’s real-world impacts include millions of Americans expected to lose access to Medicaid through new requirements and slashed spending, and state governments taking on a share of costs for a key nutrition program for low-income families. If voters oppose Republicans at the ballot box in return, it could mean the GOP loses the House during next year’s midterm elections.

In the end just two Republicans in the House and three in the Senate opposed the measure, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-narrowly-passes-gop-megabill-after-overnight-session-sending-it-house" target="_blank">the Senate approved</a>&nbsp;earlier in the week with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

Trump posted on social media numerous times in the days leading up to the vote, thanking supportive Republicans who were praising the bill during interviews and threatening to back primary challenges against GOP lawmakers who stood in the way of passage.

“Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy,” Trump posted just after midnight when it wasn’t yet clear the bill would pass. “What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”

Johnson said during a floor speech the legislation is a direct result of the November elections, when voters gave the GOP control of the House, Senate and the White House.

“That election was decisive. It was a bellwether. It was a time for choosing,” Johnson said. “And I tell you what — the American people chose, overwhelmingly, they chose the Republican Party.”

The package, he said, would make the country “stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before.”

“We’ve had spirited debates, we’ve had months of deliberation and now we are finally ready to fulfill our promise to the American people,” Johnson said.

Republicans were spurred to write the tax provisions in the legislation to avoid a cliff at the end of the year, created by the party’s 2017 tax law. But the legislation holds dozens of other provisions as well, spanning border security, defense, energy production, health care and higher education aid.

The bill raises the country’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-gop-wants-hike-debt-limit-5-trillion-mega-bill" target="_blank">debt limit by $5 trillion</a>, a staggering figure that many fiscal hawks would have once balked at, but is enough to get Republicans past the midterm elections before they’ll have to negotiate another deal to raise the country’s borrowing limit.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-07/61537-hr1-Senate-passed-additional-info7-1-25.pdf" target="_blank">latest analysis</a>&nbsp;of the measure projects it would add $3.4 trillion to deficits during the next decade compared to current law.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the health care provisions “reckless” during a speech that lasted nearly nine hours, forcing the vote to take place in the afternoon rather than early morning, and said the “bill represents the largest cut to health care in American history.”

“Almost $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid,” Jeffries said. “This runs directly contrary to what President Trump indicated in January, which was that he was going to love and cherish Medicaid. Nothing about this bill loves and cherishes Medicaid. It guts Medicaid.”

The speech broke the eight-hour-and-32-minute record that then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., set in 2021 when he sought to delay Democrats from passing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. House leaders are allowed to exceed normal speaking limits through a privilege called the “magic minute.”

The nonpartisan health research organization KFF’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/allocating-cbos-estimates-of-federal-medicaid-spending-reductions-across-the-states-senate-reconciliation-bill/" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;of the package shows it would reduce federal spending on Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion during the next decade and lead to 11.8 million people becoming uninsured.

Republicans made numerous changes to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-tax-cut-plans-may-depend-savings-medicaid-what-it-and-who-relies-it" target="_blank">the state-federal health program</a>&nbsp;for lower income people and some people with disabilities, including a requirement that some enrollees work, participate in community service, or attend an educational program for at least 80 hours a month.

Medicaid patients will no longer be able to have their care covered at Planned Parenthood for routine appointments, like annual physicals and cancer screenings, for one year. Congress has barred federal taxpayer dollars from going to abortions with limited exceptions for decades, but the new provision will block all Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood, likely leading some of its clinics to close.

House passage followed several frenzied days on Capitol Hill as congressional leaders and Trump sought to sway holdouts to their side ahead of a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline.

The Senate, and then later the House, held overnight sessions followed by dramatic votes where several Republicans, who said publicly they didn’t actually like the bill, voted to approve it anyway.&nbsp;

GOP leaders didn’t have much room for error amid a narrow 53-seat Senate majority and a 220-212 advantage in the House. That delicate balance hovered in the background during the last several months, as talks over dozens of policy changes and spending cuts in the bill appeared deadlocked.

Any modifications meant to bring on board far-right members of the party had to be weighed against the policy goals of centrist lawmakers, who are most at risk of losing their seats during next year’s elections.

The House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-republicans-push-through-massive-tax-and-spending-bill-slashing-medicaid" target="_blank">passed its first version of the bill</a>&nbsp;following a 215-214 vote in May, sending the legislation to the Senate, where Republicans in that chamber spent several weeks deciding which policies they could support and which they wanted to remove or rework.

The measure changed substantially to comply with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/five-questions-and-answers-about-reconciliation-us-senate" target="_blank">the complex rules for moving a budget reconciliation bill</a>&nbsp;through the upper chamber. GOP leaders chose to use that process, instead of moving the package through the regular legislative pathway, to avoid having to negotiate with Democrats to get past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.

In the end nearly every one of the 273 Republicans in Congress approved the behemoth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text?s=6&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22H.R.+1%22%7D" target="_blank">870-page bill.</a>

Floor debate on the bill in the House, which began around 3:30 a.m. Eastern Thursday and lasted 11 hours, was along party lines, with Democrats voicing strong opposition to changes in the package and GOP lawmakers arguing it puts the country on a better path.

GOP leaders didn’t originally plan to begin debate in the middle of the night while most of the country slept, but were forced to after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-gop-struggles-advance-megabill-against-freedom-caucus-resistance" target="_blank">holdouts refused to give their votes</a>&nbsp;to a procedural step.

When the House did finally adopt the rule, Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick was the sole member of his party to vote against moving onto floor debate and a final passage vote.

Fitzpatrick had&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepBrianFitz/status/1940451015125246089" target="_blank">posted on social media</a>&nbsp;earlier in the day that he wanted Trump “to address my serious concern regarding reports the United States is withholding critical defense material pledged to Ukraine.”

“Ukrainian forces are not only safeguarding their homeland—they are holding the front line of freedom itself,” he wrote. “There can be no half-measures in the defense of liberty. We must, as we always have, stand for peace through strength.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., made significant promises to middle-class Americans during floor debate about the tax provisions in the bill that many voters will be watching for in the months ahead.&nbsp;

“Households making under $100,000 will see a 12% tax cut compared to what they pay today. The average family of four will see nearly 11,000 more in their pockets each year,” Smith said. “Real wages for workers will rise by as much as $7,200 a year. A waitress working for tips will keep an extra $1,300, a lineman working overtime after a storm will keep an extra $1,400.”

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, ranking member on the tax writing panel, said the legislation’s benefits skew largely toward the very wealthy.

“If you made a million dollars last year, you’re going to make a plus of $96,000 in the next tax filing season,” Neal said. “If you made under $50,000 last year, you’re going to get 68 cents a day in terms of your tax relief.”

The extension of the 2017 tax law would predominantly benefit high-income earners. The top 1% would receive a tax cut three times the size of those with incomes in the bottom 60% of after-tax income,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/house-republican-tax-bill-is-skewed-to-wealthy-costs-more-than-extending-2017" target="_blank">according to analysis</a>&nbsp;from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/1000-trump-accounts-babies-skewed-toward-wealthy-critics-say" target="_blank">Some other tax incentives</a>&nbsp;that critics say skew toward wealthier families include a $1,000 deposit from the federal government for babies born between 2024 and 2028, known as a “Trump account.” The program&nbsp;would track a stock index and gain interest accordingly and families with disposable income could contribute additional funding.

And while Republicans included an extension of the child tax credit to $2,200 per child, it requires the parents to have a Social Security number to claim the tax credit.

The bill will give the president more than $170 billion to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations of people in the country without permanent legal status. The package would give the Department of Homeland Security $45 billion for the detention of immigrants and give its immigration enforcement arm another $30 billion to hire up to 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The legislation will overhaul federal loans for higher education and how states pay for food assistance that roughly 42 million low-income people rely on, known as the&nbsp;Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The bill would cap federal graduate loans to $100,000 per borrower and $200,000 per borrower who is attending law school or medical school. It would also cap the ParentPLUS loans to $65,000.

Under the SNAP changes, the package would require states to shoulder more of the burden in food assistance. Currently, the federal government covers 100% of the cost. The legislation tightens eligibility for SNAP, requiring parents with children aged 6 and older to meet the work requirements when they were previously exempt.

The SNAP changes would reduce federal spending on the program by $230 billion over 10 years.

The GOP megabill cuts clean energy tax credits and claws back some of the funding in former president Joe Biden’s signature climate bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

Some of those cuts to clean energy tax credits include terminating at the end of September a nearly $8,000 rebate for the purchase of an electric vehicle, ending a tax credit by December for energy efficient home upgrades such as solar roof panels and heat pumps.

The package rescinds funds to help local governments and states adopt zero emission standards, and eliminates environmental justice block grants that communities used to address health impacts due to environmental pollution, among other things.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751546897594.png" alt="Missouri 8th District Rep. Jason Smith during the overnight debaate-image courtesy CSPAN" />
                        <figcaption>Missouri 8th District Rep. Jason Smith during the overnight debaate-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">Jennifer Shutt</a></p><p>WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans cleared the “big, beautiful bill” for President Donald Trump’s signature Thursday, marking an end to the painstaking months-long negotiations that began just after voters gave the GOP unified control of Washington during last year’s elections.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">✅ The House of Representatives just officially PASSED the One Big Beautiful Bill.<br><br>The largest middle-class tax cut in American history — and so much more — is on its way to President Trump&#39;s desk.<br><br>MAGA! <a href="https://t.co/V3U8xhenrS">pic.twitter.com/V3U8xhenrS</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1940841386305319258?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">VICTORY: The One Big Beautiful Bill Passes U.S. Congress, Heads to President Trump’s Desk 🇺🇸🎉 <a href="https://t.co/d1nbOlL21G">pic.twitter.com/d1nbOlL21G</a></p>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1940840879075611037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>The final 218-214 vote on the expansive tax and spending cuts package marked a significant victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who were able to unify centrist and far-right members of the party against long odds and narrow majorities.</p><p>But the legislation’s real-world impacts include millions of Americans expected to lose access to Medicaid through new requirements and slashed spending, and state governments taking on a share of costs for a key nutrition program for low-income families. If voters oppose Republicans at the ballot box in return, it could mean the GOP loses the House during next year’s midterm elections.</p><p>In the end just two Republicans in the House and three in the Senate opposed the measure, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-narrowly-passes-gop-megabill-after-overnight-session-sending-it-house" target="_blank">the Senate approved</a>&nbsp;earlier in the week with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.</p><p>Trump posted on social media numerous times in the days leading up to the vote, thanking supportive Republicans who were praising the bill during interviews and threatening to back primary challenges against GOP lawmakers who stood in the way of passage.</p><p>“Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy,” Trump posted just after midnight when it wasn’t yet clear the bill would pass. “What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”</p><p>Johnson said during a floor speech the legislation is a direct result of the November elections, when voters gave the GOP control of the House, Senate and the White House.</p><p>“That election was decisive. It was a bellwether. It was a time for choosing,” Johnson said. “And I tell you what — the American people chose, overwhelmingly, they chose the Republican Party.”</p><p>The package, he said, would make the country “stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before.”</p><p>“We’ve had spirited debates, we’ve had months of deliberation and now we are finally ready to fulfill our promise to the American people,” Johnson said.</p><p>Republicans were spurred to write the tax provisions in the legislation to avoid a cliff at the end of the year, created by the party’s 2017 tax law. But the legislation holds dozens of other provisions as well, spanning border security, defense, energy production, health care and higher education aid.</p><p>The bill raises the country’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-gop-wants-hike-debt-limit-5-trillion-mega-bill" target="_blank">debt limit by $5 trillion</a>, a staggering figure that many fiscal hawks would have once balked at, but is enough to get Republicans past the midterm elections before they’ll have to negotiate another deal to raise the country’s borrowing limit.</p><p>The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-07/61537-hr1-Senate-passed-additional-info7-1-25.pdf" target="_blank">latest analysis</a>&nbsp;of the measure projects it would add $3.4 trillion to deficits during the next decade compared to current law.</p><h2>Jeffries: “It guts Medicaid’</h2><p>House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the health care provisions “reckless” during a speech that lasted nearly nine hours, forcing the vote to take place in the afternoon rather than early morning, and said the “bill represents the largest cut to health care in American history.”</p><p>“Almost $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid,” Jeffries said. “This runs directly contrary to what President Trump indicated in January, which was that he was going to love and cherish Medicaid. Nothing about this bill loves and cherishes Medicaid. It guts Medicaid.”</p><p>The speech broke the eight-hour-and-32-minute record that then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., set in 2021 when he sought to delay Democrats from passing a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. House leaders are allowed to exceed normal speaking limits through a privilege called the “magic minute.”</p><p>The nonpartisan health research organization KFF’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/allocating-cbos-estimates-of-federal-medicaid-spending-reductions-across-the-states-senate-reconciliation-bill/" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;of the package shows it would reduce federal spending on Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion during the next decade and lead to 11.8 million people becoming uninsured.</p><p>Republicans made numerous changes to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-tax-cut-plans-may-depend-savings-medicaid-what-it-and-who-relies-it" target="_blank">the state-federal health program</a>&nbsp;for lower income people and some people with disabilities, including a requirement that some enrollees work, participate in community service, or attend an educational program for at least 80 hours a month.</p><p>Medicaid patients will no longer be able to have their care covered at Planned Parenthood for routine appointments, like annual physicals and cancer screenings, for one year. Congress has barred federal taxpayer dollars from going to abortions with limited exceptions for decades, but the new provision will block all Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood, likely leading some of its clinics to close.</p><h2>Overnight drama</h2><p>House passage followed several frenzied days on Capitol Hill as congressional leaders and Trump sought to sway holdouts to their side ahead of a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline.</p><p>The Senate, and then later the House, held overnight sessions followed by dramatic votes where several Republicans, who said publicly they didn’t actually like the bill, voted to approve it anyway.&nbsp;</p><p>GOP leaders didn’t have much room for error amid a narrow 53-seat Senate majority and a 220-212 advantage in the House. That delicate balance hovered in the background during the last several months, as talks over dozens of policy changes and spending cuts in the bill appeared deadlocked.</p><p>Any modifications meant to bring on board far-right members of the party had to be weighed against the policy goals of centrist lawmakers, who are most at risk of losing their seats during next year’s elections.</p><p>The House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-republicans-push-through-massive-tax-and-spending-bill-slashing-medicaid" target="_blank">passed its first version of the bill</a>&nbsp;following a 215-214 vote in May, sending the legislation to the Senate, where Republicans in that chamber spent several weeks deciding which policies they could support and which they wanted to remove or rework.</p><p>The measure changed substantially to comply with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/five-questions-and-answers-about-reconciliation-us-senate" target="_blank">the complex rules for moving a budget reconciliation bill</a>&nbsp;through the upper chamber. GOP leaders chose to use that process, instead of moving the package through the regular legislative pathway, to avoid having to negotiate with Democrats to get past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.</p><p>In the end nearly every one of the 273 Republicans in Congress approved the behemoth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text?s=6&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22H.R.+1%22%7D" target="_blank">870-page bill.</a></p><h2>GOP holdouts delay passage</h2><p>Floor debate on the bill in the House, which began around 3:30 a.m. Eastern Thursday and lasted 11 hours, was along party lines, with Democrats voicing strong opposition to changes in the package and GOP lawmakers arguing it puts the country on a better path.</p><p>GOP leaders didn’t originally plan to begin debate in the middle of the night while most of the country slept, but were forced to after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-gop-struggles-advance-megabill-against-freedom-caucus-resistance" target="_blank">holdouts refused to give their votes</a>&nbsp;to a procedural step.</p><p>When the House did finally adopt the rule, Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick was the sole member of his party to vote against moving onto floor debate and a final passage vote.</p><p>Fitzpatrick had&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepBrianFitz/status/1940451015125246089" target="_blank">posted on social media</a>&nbsp;earlier in the day that he wanted Trump “to address my serious concern regarding reports the United States is withholding critical defense material pledged to Ukraine.”</p><p>“Ukrainian forces are not only safeguarding their homeland—they are holding the front line of freedom itself,” he wrote. “There can be no half-measures in the defense of liberty. We must, as we always have, stand for peace through strength.”</p><h2>Tax breaks and so much more</h2><p>House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., made significant promises to middle-class Americans during floor debate about the tax provisions in the bill that many voters will be watching for in the months ahead.&nbsp;</p><p>“Households making under $100,000 will see a 12% tax cut compared to what they pay today. The average family of four will see nearly 11,000 more in their pockets each year,” Smith said. “Real wages for workers will rise by as much as $7,200 a year. A waitress working for tips will keep an extra $1,300, a lineman working overtime after a storm will keep an extra $1,400.”</p><p>Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, ranking member on the tax writing panel, said the legislation’s benefits skew largely toward the very wealthy.</p><p>“If you made a million dollars last year, you’re going to make a plus of $96,000 in the next tax filing season,” Neal said. “If you made under $50,000 last year, you’re going to get 68 cents a day in terms of your tax relief.”</p><p>The extension of the 2017 tax law would predominantly benefit high-income earners. The top 1% would receive a tax cut three times the size of those with incomes in the bottom 60% of after-tax income,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/house-republican-tax-bill-is-skewed-to-wealthy-costs-more-than-extending-2017" target="_blank">according to analysis</a>&nbsp;from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.</p><p><a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/1000-trump-accounts-babies-skewed-toward-wealthy-critics-say" target="_blank">Some other tax incentives</a>&nbsp;that critics say skew toward wealthier families include a $1,000 deposit from the federal government for babies born between 2024 and 2028, known as a “Trump account.” The program&nbsp;would track a stock index and gain interest accordingly and families with disposable income could contribute additional funding.</p><p>And while Republicans included an extension of the child tax credit to $2,200 per child, it requires the parents to have a Social Security number to claim the tax credit.</p><p>The bill will give the president more than $170 billion to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations of people in the country without permanent legal status. The package would give the Department of Homeland Security $45 billion for the detention of immigrants and give its immigration enforcement arm another $30 billion to hire up to 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.</p><h2>Food aid, higher education</h2><p>The legislation will overhaul federal loans for higher education and how states pay for food assistance that roughly 42 million low-income people rely on, known as the&nbsp;Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.</p><p>The bill would cap federal graduate loans to $100,000 per borrower and $200,000 per borrower who is attending law school or medical school. It would also cap the ParentPLUS loans to $65,000.</p><p>Under the SNAP changes, the package would require states to shoulder more of the burden in food assistance. Currently, the federal government covers 100% of the cost. The legislation tightens eligibility for SNAP, requiring parents with children aged 6 and older to meet the work requirements when they were previously exempt.</p><p>The SNAP changes would reduce federal spending on the program by $230 billion over 10 years.</p><p>The GOP megabill cuts clean energy tax credits and claws back some of the funding in former president Joe Biden’s signature climate bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act.</p><p>Some of those cuts to clean energy tax credits include terminating at the end of September a nearly $8,000 rebate for the purchase of an electric vehicle, ending a tax credit by December for energy efficient home upgrades such as solar roof panels and heat pumps.</p><p>The package rescinds funds to help local governments and states adopt zero emission standards, and eliminates environmental justice block grants that communities used to address health impacts due to environmental pollution, among other things.</p>

US House passes massive tax break and spending cut bill, sending it to Trump

<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY, <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJeffries?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepJeffries</a>) concludes his record-setting floor speech (8 hrs. 44 min.): <br><br>&quot;No matter the outcome on this single day, we&#39;re going to press on...we&#39;re going to press on for our children,<br>press on for our seniors,<br>press on for our… <a href="https://t.co/Q2I7YQnyaP">pic.twitter.com/Q2I7YQnyaP</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1940829573647663207?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here&#39;s the moment Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) set the record for longest floor speech in the U.S. House of Representatives. <a href="https://t.co/2IT8Hwx2Ax">pic.twitter.com/2IT8Hwx2Ax</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1940826628784902333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;MAGIC MINUTE&quot; RECORD:<br><br>On Nov. 18-19, 2021, then Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke on the House floor for a record 8 hours and 32 minutes.<br><br>Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries began his floor remarks at 4:53am ET – 8 hours and 33 minutes ago. <a href="https://t.co/jHjfBs6njh">pic.twitter.com/jHjfBs6njh</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1940824776798621849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/G3gpC9zbgi">pic.twitter.com/G3gpC9zbgi</a></p>&mdash; Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1940828336877719972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

🎥Rep. Jeffries sets record for longest House speech to delay Trump's tax bill

CAMDEN COUNTY —A man drowned just after 6:30p.m. Wednesday at Lake of the Ozarks.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 70-year-old Wentzville, Missouri boat operator fell into the water at the 8 mile mark of Workmen Hollow Cove. 

Bystanders were able to pull him out of the water. He was pronounced deceased at the scene and transported to Hedges-Scott Funeral Home in Camdenton. He was not wearing a life jacket, according to the MSHP. The Patrol no longer releases names of drowning victims.

<p>CAMDEN COUNTY —A man drowned just after 6:30p.m. Wednesday at Lake of the Ozarks.</p><p>The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 70-year-old Wentzville, Missouri boat operator fell into the water at the 8 mile mark of Workmen Hollow Cove. </p><p>Bystanders were able to pull him out of the water. He was pronounced deceased at the scene and transported to Hedges-Scott Funeral Home in Camdenton. He was not wearing a life jacket, according to the MSHP. The Patrol no longer releases names of drowning victims.</p>

70-year-old fell from boat, drowned at Lake of the Ozarks

STONE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Wednesday in Stone County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Harley Davidson driven by a 53-year-old Nixa man was southbound on U.S. 160 one mile north of Reeds Spring. The driver failed to negotiate a roundabout. The vehicle struck a curb and overturned.&nbsp;

EMS transported the driver to Cox South where he was pronounced deceased. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP. The Patrol no longer releases names of accident victims.

<p>STONE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Wednesday in Stone County.</p><p>The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Harley Davidson driven by a 53-year-old Nixa man was southbound on U.S. 160 one mile north of Reeds Spring. The driver failed to negotiate a roundabout. The vehicle struck a curb and overturned.&nbsp;</p><p>EMS transported the driver to Cox South where he was pronounced deceased. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP. The Patrol no longer releases names of accident victims.</p>

Missouri man dies after motorcycle crash in roundabout

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">Jennifer Shutt</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">Ashley Murray</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ariana-figueroa/">Ariana Figueroa</a>

WASHINGTON —&nbsp; U.S. House Republican efforts to pass the “big, beautiful bill” hit a roadblock Wednesday, when leaders left the chamber in a holding pattern for more than seven hours before calling a procedural vote that stalled amid opposition from hard-right members and others.

The House must adopt the rule in order to set up floor debate and a final passage vote for the tax break and spending cut package. But with four Republicans voting against it and nine withholding their votes, the House remained at a standstill around 11 p.m. Eastern.

GOP Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Keith Self of Texas and Victoria Spartz of Indiana had cast votes against approving the rule, though they could flip since leadership hadn’t closed the vote. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland was among the members withholding their votes in protest.

Far-right members of the House GOP objected strongly to the Senate version passed Tuesday, which reflected changes made during the past month compared to an earlier version passed in the House. Members of the House Freedom Caucus&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/freedomcaucus/status/1940425177638002840" target="_blank">opposed</a>&nbsp;provisions dealing with immigration and the repeal of clean energy tax credits, as well as the measure’s increase in the deficit.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-07/61537-hr1-Senate-passed-additional-info7-1-25.pdf" target="_blank">released an analysis</a>&nbsp;after the Senate voted, showing the bill would increase deficits by $3.4 trillion during the next decade compared to current law.

‘We can’t make everyone 100% happy’

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier in the day he felt ​​”very positive about the progress” made during ongoing negotiations, but didn’t commit to having the necessary votes.

“The thing about it is, when you have a piece of legislation that is this comprehensive and with so many agenda items involved, you’re going to have lots of different priorities and preferences among people because they represent different districts and they have different interests,” Johnson said. “But we can’t make everyone 100% happy. It’s impossible.”

Johnson said he would never ask lawmakers to “compromise core principles, but preferences must be yielded for the greater good.”

South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson told reporters before the delay that “the rule going down would be a very unfortunate development.”

But he expressed confidence in Speaker Johnson’s ability to bring holdouts on board eventually, potentially by making commitments tied to future bills.

“Speaker Johnson has not made any promises. He has been really good about talking about legislative vehicles that will exist in the months to come,” Dusty Johnson said. “Reconciliation is not the only tool in the Republican, or I should say in the congressional toolbox. Mike Johnson’s done a good job of making people understand there are other ways we can get things done.”

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy said a few hours before the rule vote began that holdouts were “exploring all of the options legislatively and through the executive.”

“We were not happy with what the Senate produced,” Roy said. “We thought there was a path forward as of late last week, even though I had concerns. I’ve been public about them. But then they jammed it through at the last minute in a way that we’re not overly excited about.”

Roy said that “everything is on the table at the moment,” when asked by States Newsroom if he hoped to get concessions from leaders on this package or deals struck for future bills.

Several House GOP lawmakers traveled to the White House earlier in the day to meet with President Donald Trump, who was also attempting to assuage concerns through several social media posts.

“It looks like the House is ready to vote tonight,’ Trump posted minutes before the rule vote began. “We had GREAT conversations all day, and the Republican House Majority is UNITED, for the Good of our Country, delivering the Biggest Tax Cuts in History and MASSIVE Growth. Let’s go Republicans, and everyone else – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

House Rules Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., urged support for approving the rule during floor debate, arguing it was essential for GOP lawmakers to deliver on campaign promises.

“This legislation is the embodiment of the America First agenda and we would all do well to remember that,” Foxx said. “Failure at this critical juncture is not an option. This clock is ticking, the president and the American people are waiting. ”

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, ranking member on the panel, railed against the dozens of provisions Senate Republicans bundled together in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text?s=6&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22H.R.+1%22%7D" target="_blank">870-page package</a>, including some added just Tuesday.

“This process — an abomination, legislative malpractice,” McGovern said. “Final text of this bill came out less than 24 hours ago. We met in committee an hour after it was posted and now we’re here considering a rule that only allows for one hour of debate.

“This bill is within the jurisdiction of 12 different committees. One hour is ridiculous. And every minute we’re finding out new things that were snuck into the bill: a tax cut for whalers and now we’re learning about a gambling tax.”

The bill — which underwent weeks of revisions in the Senate after a prior version&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-republicans-push-through-massive-tax-and-spending-bill-slashing-medicaid" target="_blank">barely passed the House</a>&nbsp;in May — will extend and expand the 2017 GOP tax law while overhauling several safety-net programs and slashing spending on Medicaid.

Those tax cuts skew toward wealthier income earners. The top 1% would receive a cut three times the size of those with incomes in the bottom 60% of after-tax income,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/house-republican-tax-bill-is-skewed-to-wealthy-costs-more-than-extending-2017" target="_blank">according to analysis</a>&nbsp;from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It also makes permanent some tax breaks on business investments and research and development costs.

The package makes substantial changes to Medicaid, including requiring some people on the program to work, participate in community service, or attend an educational program for at least 80 hours a month.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751546897594.png" alt="Missouri 8th District Rep. Jason Smith during the overnight debaate-image courtesy CSPAN" />
                        <figcaption>Missouri 8th District Rep. Jason Smith during the overnight debaate-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">Jennifer Shutt</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">Ashley Murray</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ariana-figueroa/">Ariana Figueroa</a></p><p>WASHINGTON —&nbsp; U.S. House Republican efforts to pass the “big, beautiful bill” hit a roadblock Wednesday, when leaders left the chamber in a holding pattern for more than seven hours before calling a procedural vote that stalled amid opposition from hard-right members and others.</p><p>The House must adopt the rule in order to set up floor debate and a final passage vote for the tax break and spending cut package. But with four Republicans voting against it and nine withholding their votes, the House remained at a standstill around 11 p.m. Eastern.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751536826780.png" alt="As House Speaker Mike Johnson looks on, Kansas 4th District Rep. Ron Estes speaks during the overnight session in the House on the battle to pass the Big, Beautiful Bill-image courtesy CSPAN" />
                        <figcaption>As House Speaker Mike Johnson looks on, Kansas 4th District Rep. Ron Estes speaks during the overnight session in the House on the battle to pass the Big, Beautiful Bill-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>GOP Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Keith Self of Texas and Victoria Spartz of Indiana had cast votes against approving the rule, though they could flip since leadership hadn’t closed the vote. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland was among the members withholding their votes in protest.</p><p>Far-right members of the House GOP objected strongly to the Senate version passed Tuesday, which reflected changes made during the past month compared to an earlier version passed in the House. Members of the House Freedom Caucus&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/freedomcaucus/status/1940425177638002840" target="_blank">opposed</a>&nbsp;provisions dealing with immigration and the repeal of clean energy tax credits, as well as the measure’s increase in the deficit.</p><p>The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-07/61537-hr1-Senate-passed-additional-info7-1-25.pdf" target="_blank">released an analysis</a>&nbsp;after the Senate voted, showing the bill would increase deficits by $3.4 trillion during the next decade compared to current law.</p><h2>‘We can’t make everyone 100% happy’</h2><p>Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier in the day he felt ​​”very positive about the progress” made during ongoing negotiations, but didn’t commit to having the necessary votes.</p><p>“The thing about it is, when you have a piece of legislation that is this comprehensive and with so many agenda items involved, you’re going to have lots of different priorities and preferences among people because they represent different districts and they have different interests,” Johnson said. “But we can’t make everyone 100% happy. It’s impossible.”</p><p>Johnson said he would never ask lawmakers to “compromise core principles, but preferences must be yielded for the greater good.”</p><p>South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson told reporters before the delay that “the rule going down would be a very unfortunate development.”</p><p>But he expressed confidence in Speaker Johnson’s ability to bring holdouts on board eventually, potentially by making commitments tied to future bills.</p><p>“Speaker Johnson has not made any promises. He has been really good about talking about legislative vehicles that will exist in the months to come,” Dusty Johnson said. “Reconciliation is not the only tool in the Republican, or I should say in the congressional toolbox. Mike Johnson’s done a good job of making people understand there are other ways we can get things done.”</p><p>Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy said a few hours before the rule vote began that holdouts were “exploring all of the options legislatively and through the executive.”</p><p>“We were not happy with what the Senate produced,” Roy said. “We thought there was a path forward as of late last week, even though I had concerns. I’ve been public about them. But then they jammed it through at the last minute in a way that we’re not overly excited about.”</p><p>Roy said that “everything is on the table at the moment,” when asked by States Newsroom if he hoped to get concessions from leaders on this package or deals struck for future bills.</p><h2>Trump presses House GOP</h2><p>Several House GOP lawmakers traveled to the White House earlier in the day to meet with President Donald Trump, who was also attempting to assuage concerns through several social media posts.</p><p>“It looks like the House is ready to vote tonight,’ Trump posted minutes before the rule vote began. “We had GREAT conversations all day, and the Republican House Majority is UNITED, for the Good of our Country, delivering the Biggest Tax Cuts in History and MASSIVE Growth. Let’s go Republicans, and everyone else – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”</p><p>House Rules Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., urged support for approving the rule during floor debate, arguing it was essential for GOP lawmakers to deliver on campaign promises.</p><p>“This legislation is the embodiment of the America First agenda and we would all do well to remember that,” Foxx said. “Failure at this critical juncture is not an option. This clock is ticking, the president and the American people are waiting. ”</p><p>Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, ranking member on the panel, railed against the dozens of provisions Senate Republicans bundled together in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text?s=6&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22H.R.+1%22%7D" target="_blank">870-page package</a>, including some added just Tuesday.</p><p>“This process — an abomination, legislative malpractice,” McGovern said. “Final text of this bill came out less than 24 hours ago. We met in committee an hour after it was posted and now we’re here considering a rule that only allows for one hour of debate.</p><p>“This bill is within the jurisdiction of 12 different committees. One hour is ridiculous. And every minute we’re finding out new things that were snuck into the bill: a tax cut for whalers and now we’re learning about a gambling tax.”</p><h2>Tax cuts favor higher incomes</h2><p>The bill — which underwent weeks of revisions in the Senate after a prior version&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-republicans-push-through-massive-tax-and-spending-bill-slashing-medicaid" target="_blank">barely passed the House</a>&nbsp;in May — will extend and expand the 2017 GOP tax law while overhauling several safety-net programs and slashing spending on Medicaid.</p><p>Those tax cuts skew toward wealthier income earners. The top 1% would receive a cut three times the size of those with incomes in the bottom 60% of after-tax income,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/house-republican-tax-bill-is-skewed-to-wealthy-costs-more-than-extending-2017" target="_blank">according to analysis</a>&nbsp;from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It also makes permanent some tax breaks on business investments and research and development costs.</p><p>The package makes substantial changes to Medicaid, including requiring some people on the program to work, participate in community service, or attend an educational program for at least 80 hours a month.</p><p>It will block any Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood for one year, essentially requiring enrollees to find other health care options for routine appointments such as cancer screenings, birth control and sexually transmitted infections treatment and screening. Using federal taxpayer dollars for abortion coverage has been restricted for decades, with limited exceptions.</p><p>The legislation requires state governments to pay for a portion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for the first time if they cannot get error payment rates under a certain percentage. SNAP is the primary federal nutrition program that feeds low-income people and roughly 42 million rely on it.</p><p>It bolsters spending on border security and defense by hundreds of billions of dollars, including line items for the “golden dome” missile defense system and additional barriers along the southern border.</p><p>The measure would provide a substantial funding increase to federal immigration enforcement for detention and removal of people without permanent legal status, aiding the president in carrying out his campaign promise of mass deportations.</p><p>The bill would raise the debt limit by $5 trillion, a figure designed to get Congress past next year’s midterm elections before the country would once again bump up against the borrowing limit.</p><p>Protesters&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/protesters-outside-us-house-make-last-stand-against-gop-megabill" target="_blank">milled about and held signs on street corners</a>&nbsp;outside the U.S. Capitol as Republicans worked to pass the megabill. Several spoke out against cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, as well as rollbacks to clean energy tax credits contained in the budget reconciliation package.</p><h2>Senate turmoil</h2><p>The House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-republicans-push-through-massive-tax-and-spending-bill-slashing-medicaid" target="_blank">voted 215-214</a>&nbsp;mostly along party lines to approve the first version of the package in late May.</p><p>Senate Republicans spent much of the last month reading through that, trying to determine what proposals their members supported and which elements would need to come out to comply with the strict rules that go along with writing a budget reconciliation bill.</p><p>The parliamentarian, that chamber’s referee,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gun-silencer-school-voucher-provisions-dropped-gop-mega-bill-us-senate" target="_blank">continued</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-votes-advance-republican-mega-bill-tense-late-night-session" target="_blank">issue rulings</a>&nbsp;on whether various policies in the legislation were in bounds for days before the Senate officially began debating the measure and even after they launched into vote-a-rama Monday morning.</p><p>That “Byrd bath” process eventually wrapped up, allowing Senate GOP leaders to release updated text of the package shortly before the chamber took its final vote.</p><p>Even with near-constant negotiations among Senate Republicans, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was unable to get everyone on board.</p><h2>3 Senate Republicans voted no</h2><p>Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis opposed the measure, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-narrowly-passes-gop-megabill-after-overnight-session-sending-it-house" target="_blank">the Senate approved</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.</p><p>Collins wrote in a statement that while she supported “extending the tax relief for families and small businesses,” her opposition to the legislation “stems primarily from the harmful impact it will have on Medicaid, affecting low-income families and rural health care providers like our hospitals and nursing homes.”</p><p>Collins also cited “additional problems” with how the legislation addressed tax credits for certain forms of energy production, which she wrote “should have been gradually phased out so as not to waste the work that has already been put into these innovative new projects and prevent them from being completed.”</p><p>Tills spoke about his opposition to the bill’s changes to Medicaid during a floor speech before the Senate’s vote, arguing its cuts to spending to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-tax-cut-plans-may-depend-savings-medicaid-what-it-and-who-relies-it" target="_blank">the state-federal health program</a>&nbsp;for low-income people and some people with disabilities weren’t in the best interest of GOP voters.</p><p>“I’m telling the president that you have been misinformed,” Tillis said. “You supporting the Senate mark will hurt people who are eligible and qualified for Medicaid.”</p><p>Tillis said he supports a policy change in the bill that would require people on Medicaid to work, participate in community service, or attend an educational program. But he was critical of other changes implemented by his Senate colleagues, and announced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/north-carolina-us-sen-thom-tillis-announces-retirement-after-drawing-trump-wrath" target="_blank">he won’t seek reelection</a>&nbsp;hours after voting against advancing the package.</p><p>“I love the work requirement. I love the other reforms in this bill. They are necessary and I appreciate the leadership of the House for putting it in there,” Tillis said. “In fact, I like the work of the House so much that I wouldn’t be having to do this speech if we simply started with the House mark.”</p><p>Paul said he decided to vote against the legislation because it will increase federal deficits during the next few years.&nbsp;</p><p>“To me the most pertinent question is, how will the bill affect the deficit in the next year?” Paul said. “Currently our deficit is estimated to be a little under $2 trillion this year. What will happen to the (deficit) in 2026 if this bill passes? Well, using the math most favorable to the supporters of the bill, referred to as the policy baseline, the deficit in 2026 will still be $270 billion more than this year.”</p><p>Paul added “that’s just not good if you profess to be fiscally conservative.”</p>