Court Employee and a Police Officer Shot and Killed in Independence, Missouri
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A court employee and a police officer were fatally shot Thursday after the court worker tried to serve an eviction notice at a home in Independence, Missouri. Authorities say a second police officer was critically injured, but is expected to survive. A male suspect, who sustained minor injuries, was taken into custody. It remains unclear what led to the shooting.
Helicopter video from KMBC-TV showed emergency vehicles converged around an isolated house in the middle of a field. The media was cordoned off in an area about 1 mile from the crime scene. The area includes a mixture of woods, farmland and scattered houses. Independence is a suburb of Kansas City, with about 122,000 residents.
(–Earlier reporting–)
2 Officers Shot and Wounded in Independence, Missouri, Police Say
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Two police officers and a court employee were shot and wounded Thursday at a home in Independence, Missouri, authorities said. Corporal Justin Ewing with Missouri State Highway Patrol said during a news conference the two officers were critically injured and were transported to a hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known. The 16th Judicial Court of Missouri said a court process server also was shot and critically injured by someone inside the home while serving an eviction notice. “We are devastated that a court employee, who is a public servant, was shot by a member of the public while performing their job,” Presiding Judge Jalilah Otto said in a statement. “Our hearts are heavy and our thoughts are with our employee, our entire Court family, and the Independence Police Department.”
A male suspect sustained minor injuries, Kansas City police Capt. Jake Becchina said at the news conference. Independence Police Department spokesperson Officer Jack Taylor said no details are immediately available about what led to the shooting.
Helicopter video from KMBC-TV showed emergency vehicles converged around an isolated house in the middle of a field. The media was cordoned off in an area about 1 mile (1.61 kilometers) from the crime scene. The area was a mixture of woods and farmland with a smattering of houses on large, multi-acre lots. A church was mixed in among the houses. Independence is a suburb of Kansas City, with about 122,000 residents.
Capt. Ronda Montgomery of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said she could confirm that police officers were shot, but that she couldn’t comment further. She said it’s under the jurisdiction of the Independence police and that it’s their scene. Schools in the Fort Osage School District were locked down for about 20-30 minutes until authorities gave the all-clear, spokesperson Stephanie Smith said. “The incident occurred several miles from our nearest school, so it really was out of caution,” she said. “Safety is always our first priority for our students.”
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Kansas Republicans Question University DEI Spending
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) — Universities in Kansas spent $9 million in state funding on diversity-related activities last school year. But not all colleges define diversity the same way. The Kansas News Service reports that Republican state representative Steven Howe requested an audit of colleges’ DEI spending. Howe chairs the House Higher Education Committee and has opposed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Audit supervisor Heidi Zimmerman says auditors looked at services aimed at students who may not have the same opportunities to succeed. “Talk to 100 people and ask them what DEI is, you’ll probably get 100 different responses. Based on what the universities told us and what they reported to us in terms of their services, it is very broad, and it is very much in the eye of the beholder,” she said. A Kansas Senate committee wants to withhold $36 million from state universities unless they can show they don’t participate in certain DEI practices.
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Kansas Lawmakers Consider Ban on Gender-Affirming Health Care for Trans Children
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – Transgender young people in Kansas would no longer be able to access gender-affirming health care if proposed legislation becomes law. The Kansas News Service reports, lawmakers heard testimony on the issue Thursday. Two bills would ban prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and some surgeries for Kansans under 18.
All major medical groups support gender-affirming care for minors with gender dysphoria. D.C. Hiegert, with the ACLU of Kansas, said banning such care for children would be unconstitutional and put trans children at greater risk of suicide. “We know it will cause serious harm. And I do not mean that in an abstract sense. People will die. Families will suffer,” Higert said. A group of proponents said the bills would protect Kansas children from pursuing a gender transition they may later regret. Jamie Reed, a former gender center worker who helped Missouri enact a similar ban, said “...it is neither liberal nor progressive to medically transition a child. It is not kind. It is not compassionate. It is not evidence-based and it is not safe.” Lawmakers failed to pass similar legislation last year. They enacted other laws restricting participation in sports and blocking trans people from changing their gender status on state-issued ID cards.
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Topeka Police Say Railroad Burglary Caused $550,000 in Damage
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) — Topeka police say the burglary of a railroad has resulted in the loss of more than a half-million dollars. Police arrested a man early Wednesday morning in connection with the crime. WIBW TV reports that the incident occurred on the city's north side, in the 1800 block of N.W. Brickyard Road. Officers say they noticed a vehicle near the Union Pacific railroad tracks and determined one of the rail cars had open doors. A man, identified as 41-year-old Matthew G. Allender, of Topeka, was arrested and booked into jail. He's facing charges of felony theft, criminal damage to property and trespassing.
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Missouri Is Suing Planned Parenthood Based on a Conservative Group's Sting Video
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri's attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Planned Parenthood of illegally taking minors into Kansas to obtain abortions without parental consent, basing the allegation on a video from a conservative group that has promoted false claims on other issues.
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey's lawsuit accuses Kansas City, Missouri-based Planned Parenthood Great Plains of violating Missouri law, which makes it illegal to “intentionally cause, aid, or assist a minor to obtain an abortion” without consent from a parent or guardian. The lawsuit filed in state district court in Columbia, Missouri, asks the court to stop Planned Parenthood from engaging in the conduct it alleges.
Bailey's lawsuit provides no evidence of the actions alleged outside of a hidden camera video from a conservative group, Project Veritas. The video is of a conversation between Planned Parenthood employees and someone impersonating someone seeking an abortion for a fictitious 13-year-old.
Project Veritas is known for conducting such hidden camera stings. Earlier this month, it acknowledged that claims it made in a video alleging ballot mishandling at a Pennsylvania post office in 2020 were untrue as it settled a lawsuit against the group by a postmaster. In 2021, a Project Veritas video fueled a false claim online that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine contains aborted fetal cells.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains President and CEO Emily Wales said the lawsuit is based on false information. She said in a statement that Planned Parenthood does not provide any form of transportation for patients. Besides, she said, Kansas law requires minor patients seeking abortion services to have parental consent or to show an order from a Kansas judge authorizing it.
“We will continue following state and federal laws and proudly providing Missourians with the compassionate sexual and reproductive care that remains available to them in a state with a total abortion ban,” Wales said.
Project Veritas did not immediately respond Tuesday to a telephone message or email seeking comment.
Missouri is among several conservative-led states that adopted restrictive abortion laws in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing the nationwide right to abortion. State law prohibits almost all abortions, except in cases of “medical emergencies.”
GOP lawmakers and state officials have long been at odds with Planned Parenthood. The Republican-led Missouri House on Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill that would bar Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood. Weeks earlier, the Missouri Supreme Court thwarted a previous attempt to end that funding.
Bailey said in a statement it is time to “eradicate Planned Parenthood once and for all."
Bailey's lawsuit, based on the Project Veritas video, alleges that Planned Parenthood employees said they could take the girl to a Kansas clinic without parental knowledge, using a doctor’s note written by someone at Planned Parenthood to get the girl out of school.
“This is the beginning of the end for Planned Parenthood in the State of Missouri. What they conceal and conspire to do in the dark of night has now been uncovered,” Bailey said.
Bailey did not say whether he planned to file criminal charges against Planned Parenthood over the conduct the lawsuit alleges. His spokesperson said the office's investigation is ongoing but did not immediately respond to a question about whether criminal charges could be coming.
But Wales said the Project Veritas video “is heavily doctored and edited.” She called the lawsuit “a press release dressed up as legal action from an unelected attorney general.”
The lawsuit also asks the court to prohibit Planned Parenthood from referring minors for abortions, providing doctor's notes for minors, paying for lodging for out-of-state abortions for minors, or coordinating with others for any of those activities.
Democratic House Minority Leader Crystal Quade told reporters that she believes that Bailey's action “falls in the bucket again of another lawsuit just to try to get some headlines in an election year.”
Bailey was appointed attorney general by Republican Gov. Mike Parson after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2022. Bailey is running for election to the post this year.
(–Related–)
Report: Twice an Many Abortions Performed in Kansas Each Month Since End of Roe v. Wade
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) — New data finds nearly twice as many monthly abortions are happening in Kansas now than before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Kansas News Service reports that around 1,700 abortions happen each month in Kansas… up from around 900 in 2022. That’s according to the Society of Family Planning. Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas have banned the procedure in most cases since the Roe decision, causing more people to travel to Kansas for abortions. Meanwhile, the national monthly average has remained fairly steady. Kansas clinics have expanded their capacity, but say they still don’t have enough appointments to treat everyone who calls seeking an abortion.
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Kansas Town Celebrates International Pancake Day Race, 75 Years in the Making
LIBERAL, Kan. (KNS) — For 75 years, a race in the southwest Kansas town of Liberal has challenged women to run a quarter mile while holding a frying pan with a pancake in it. The Shrove Tuesday tradition may seem like an oddity, but members of the community say it offers real benefits. For 75 years, women in Liberal have been running the pancake race against women in the city of Olney, England. The women of Olney have been running the race themselves since 1445. (Read more.)
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Judge Allows Former KCK Detective Roger Golubski to Remain on Home Confinement
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) – A federal magistrate on Thursday allowed former Kansas City, Kansas, Detective Roger Golubski to remain on home detention. KCUR reports that prosecutors wanted Golubski placed back in lock-up because he went to a fast food place in January, which is a violation of the conditions of his release pending trial. Magistrate Rachel Schwartz said Golubski’s trip to Culver’s was wrong, but it was a single violation. She did amend Golubski’s pre-trial release conditions to specifically say he can’t make stops like that - he can only leave the house for medical appointments or visits to his lawyer. Golubski faces federal charges of sexual assault and kidnapping, along with helping protect a drug dealer’s sex trafficking operation. No trial date is set.
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National League of Cities Anniversary Tour Kicks off in Lawrence
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) – A national lobbying group is celebrating its 100th anniversary Thursday in Lawrence. The Kansas News Service reports that the National League of Cities was founded at the University of Kansas in 1924. The group focuses on uniting cities and towns on common issues and lobbying the federal government to address them. David Sander is president of the NLC and mayor of Rancho Cordova in California. He says issues like local infrastructure have remained top priorities since the group’s founding, adding that “...these sorts of questions, you know, obviously have spanned a century. I suspect they’ve probably spanned a longer period than that.” The event in Lawrence is the first stop on a national tour of at least 100 cities and towns. It features panelists talking about the group’s history and its current lobbying goals.
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More Kansas Districts Embrace Four-Day School Weeks
TOPEKA, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) — More Kansas school districts are moving to a four-day school week. Approximately 29 districts across the state have implemented a four-day week this year. The Kansas Reflector reports that most of the districts moving to the shorter school week are in rural areas. First proposed as a way to save money, the four-day week has also been utilized for teacher recruitment. Typically, students at four-day schools spend more minutes per day in class, but less time overall in class each week.
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Community Blood Center of Kansas City Seeking Donations
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – The Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City is seeking donations to replenish local blood supply after the recent mass shooting at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade. The Kansas News Service reports the nonprofit says it provided hundreds of units of blood to hospitals after the shooting that left one dead and more than 20 injured. A blood drive was held Thursday at the Kansas Statehouse, where Governor Laura Kelly and many state lawmakers donated. Guy Niederhauser with the Community Blood Center says more donors are always needed. “Sixty percent of the general population is eligible to donate blood, and only three percent actually do so,” he explained. The Community Blood Center provides 90 percent of the blood used by hospitals in the Kansas City region. Those interested in donating blood can find more information at savealifenow.org.
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Environmental Group Voices Concerns over USDA Conservation Program
UNDATED (HPM) – An environmental group is accusing a US Department of Agriculture conservation program of adding unproven farming practices to a list of those eligible for compensation. Harvest Public Media reports that the USDA’s EQIP program pays farmers to use practices that promote conservation and curb climate change. But Environmental Working Group ag economist Anne Schechinger says many practices deemed eligible for Inflation Reduction Act funding are unproven. “USDA says that they have literature showing that these practices have climate benefits. But they don’t actually have any quantifiable data showing that these practices reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” she explained. In response, a USDA spokesman says they use a rigorous evaluation process to select their “climate smart” farming practices.
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KC Chiefs Superfan Pleads Guilty to Bank Robberies
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as “ChiefsAholic” has pleaded guilty to a string of robberies and attempted robberies of financial institutions in multiple states. Xaviar Michael Babudar pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Kansas City, Missouri, to money laundering, transporting stolen property across state lines and bank robbery. Sentencing is scheduled for July 10. Federal prosecutors say Babudar admitted to a string of robberies or attempted robberies of banks and credit unions dating to 2022. Much of the stolen money was laundered through casinos and online gambling. Babudar's lawyer says his client is humble and repentant.
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Chiefs Unveil $800 Million Renovation Plan for Arrowhead Stadium
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are planning an $800 million renovation to Arrowhead Stadium, the third-oldest stadium in the NFL, that would begin after the team plays host to games for the 2026 World Cup and take about four years to complete.
The project is contingent on the extension of a tax of three-eighth of a cent by voters in Jackson County, Missouri, on April 2. That money has been used for upkeep at Truman Sports Complex of Arrowhead and neighboring Kauffman Stadium, which the Royals intend to leave for a new downtown ballpark before the current lease expires after the 2030 season. “We would not be willing to sign a lease for another 25 years without the financing to properly renovate and reimagine the stadium,” acknowledged Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, whose family would contribute $300 million toward the overall project. “So the financing puzzle is very important to us to make sure we have enough funds to do everything we've outlined.”
The scope of the renovation project, which was revealed Wednesday during a news conference at Arrowhead, would touch every aspect of the 52-year-old building, from the seating bowl to luxury amenities to the tailgating scene.
There would be a new parking deck built to help provide players, VIPs and other special guests with a better access point. New pedestrian bridges would help fans get from parking lots to the stadium. There would be new ribbon boards, the video boards at each end would triple and quadruple in size and the existing suites around the stadium would be renovated.
The two biggest changes to the stadium itself would come above it and below it.
For the first time since the stadium was built in 1972, the Chiefs are planning to build a 360-degree upper concourse, which would allow fans to more easily flow around the stadium. It would also create more food stations, restrooms and merchandise areas, and that would alleviate congestion elsewhere in the stadium.
In the end zones, the Chiefs are planning to excavate under the existing structure to create club spaces similar to those found at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where the Raiders play and the Chiefs recently won their third Super Bowl in the past five years. “You sit on the field level of Allegiant Stadium and see that amazing end zone suite they have, and you say: ‘Wow. Too bad we can’t do that,'” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said. “We found a way to do that, and not only bring you the best of the newest buildings in the NFL, but put it inside the iconic Arrowhead Stadium.”
Another big change would come outside the stadium, where the Chiefs envision a tailgating plaza built on the site of Kauffman Stadium. The covered area would provide a gathering space on game day but also could be used year-round for events.
The original plan for the Truman Sports Complex called for a rolling roof that could cover Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums, but the structure was never built. The Chiefs revisited the idea of a roof over Arrowhead roughly two decades ago, when it underwent its last major renovation, but the public was skeptical of the project and the idea ultimately was scrapped.
Even though a roof conceivably could help Kansas City play host to the Super Bowl, Hunt said Wednesday it was never seriously considered for this round of renovations — and in fact, the team prefers to play outdoors in the elements. “We certainly feel like it's a competitive advantage for us,” he said.
The Chiefs also considered a mixed-use development around Arrowhead, where there are few restaurants, hotels and entertainment options. But studies found that such an investment would not provide a positive financial return. “This is not a location that is not worthy of developing,” Donovan said, “as harsh as that sounds.”
So, the scope of the project was narrowed to Arrowhead itself. Hunt said the goal is to maintain its history and mystique while providing fans with the amenities found in more modern stadiums across the NFL. “What my dad loved best about the stadium was the connection the team had with our fanbase,” Hunt said of his father, Lamar Hunt, who founded the team in 1959 in Dallas. “He loved this building for what it means to the fans, and we still believe it is one of the best stadiums in the National Football League and a bucket-list destination for fans across the NFL.”
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KU Football Coach Now One of the Highest Paid in Big 12; New Contract Worth $40 Million+
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas football coach Lance Leipold signed an amended contract Wednesday that increased his overall compensation to more than $40 million through the 2029 season while giving him a sizeable pool of money for hiring assistants and support staff. The contract does not extend his previous deal, but it does feature a substantial bump in salary from the $5 million Leipold made last season, when he led the long-suffering Jayhawks to a 9-4 record and a victory in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
Leipold is 17-21 over three seasons at Kansas. His back-to-back bowl berths have been its first since the 2007 and '08 seasons. “Since Lance and his staff arrived in Lawrence, our program has seen exponential growth in every facet both on and off the field," Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said in a statement. "Every aspect of our program is on an unprecedented positive trajectory, and we are eager to continue this prodigious build with Lance.” Goff and Leipold planned to discuss the amended contract at a news conference Thursday.
The contract includes a pool of $6 million for assistant coaches that increases by $200,000 per year, and a $2.9 million pool for other football staff that increases by $100,000 annually. That additional money could help Leipold in the future retain coaches such as offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, who left for the same job at Penn State. “We are incredibly proud of what our football program has accomplished over the first three seasons in Lawrence," Leipold said, “and look forward to the continued challenge of bringing a consistent winner and championship home.”
Leipold inherited a program whose last winning season came in 2008, before Mark Mangino was fired and the school churned through four coaches. The Jayhawks were winless under Les Miles the season before Leipold's arrival, and his relatively late hiring — he took over after spring football — forced him to piece together a competitive team in a matter of months.
The Jayhawks wound up winning two games his first season, but with a full recruiting cycle and offseason, that total bumped to six wins and a trip to the Liberty Bowl in 2022. Then came last season, when the Jayhawks spent time in the AP Top 25, upset No. 6 Oklahoma and wound up beating UNLV for their first bowl win in 15 years.
Leipold was linked to several openings this past offseason, including Washington, but ultimately decided to stay at Kansas, where Goff and the rest of the school administration have begun to invest heavily in the Jayhawks' football program.
After this past season, the school razed Memorial Stadium and began construction on a new stadium that will serve as the centerpiece of a nearly $450 million multipurpose district on the edge of campus. The school also upgraded its locker room, weight room and training spaces in the nearby Anderson Family Football Complex.
The Jayhawks could compete for the Big 12 championship next season, when perennial heavyweights Texas and Oklahoma are gone for the Southeastern Conference and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah arrive to take their place.
Their top quarterback, Jalon Daniels, is expected to be back after missing most of last season with a back injury, along with star running back Devin Neal and wide receivers Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm. Their defense got a big boost when first-team All-Big 12 cornerback Cobee Bryant announced he would return alongside veteran defensive back Mello Dotson.
The Jayhawks open the season August 29 against Lindenwood. Due to the stadium construction, that will be the first of two games they will play at Children's Mercy Park, the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City. Their four Big 12 home games will be played across the state line at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Black Student Union at JCCC Hosts Business Expo
UNDATED (KCUR) – A gathering at Johnson County Community College marked Black History Month Wednesday by highlighting more than 20 Black-owned businesses from across the metro. KCUR reports that the school’s Black Student Union hosted the third annual business expo. JCCC Freshman Tavian Cruse, who is biracial, says it's inspiring to see his college support area entrepreneurs who look like him, saying “the community was able to have Black business owners and I wanted to celebrate with them and just see what's out there." Businesses represented at the event work in industries including beauty and cosmetics, media and fashion.
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KPR Community Spotlight in February Falls on MART
MANHATTAN, Kan. (KPR) — This month's KPR Community Spotlight falls on the Manhattan Area Resettlement Team, or MART. Learn more about MART here.
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Wildfire Scorching Texas Panhandle Grows into Largest in State History; Moves into Oklahoma
CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — A wildfire spreading across the Texas Panhandle has become the largest in state history. Authorities say the Smokehouse Creek fire grew Thursday to nearly 1,700 square miles of scorched rural ranchlands and destroyed homes. The fire has merged with another blaze and is 3% contained. Authorities have not said what ignited the blaze. It has burned since Monday and expanded in size with ferocious speed. The fire has torn through dozens of homes, and officials have cautioned that the full extent of the damage remains unknown. At least one person has died.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has merged with another blaze, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The fire's explosive growth slowed as snow fell and winds and temperatures dipped, but it was still untamed and threatening more death and destruction. It is the largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle section of the state. It has also crossed into Oklahoma.
Firefighters have made little progress corralling it, but Thursday’s forecast of snow, rain and temperatures in the 40s offered a window to make progress before temperatures and winds increase this weekend. Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes.
Less than an inch of snow is expected, but moisture is not the only benefit, said National Weather Service meteorologist Samuel Scoleri. “It will help keep relative humidity down for the day, and that will definitely help firefighters,” Scoleri said. Snow and rainfall were expected to end Thursday afternoon, with dry, windy conditions returning Friday and critical fire conditions possible again Saturday and Sunday.
An 83-year-old woman is the only confirmed death so far, but with flames still menacing a wide area, authorities have yet to conduct a thorough search for victims or tally the numerous homes and other structures damaged or destroyed.
Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said the weekend forecast and “sheer size and scope” of the blaze are the biggest challenges for firefighters. “I don’t want the community there to feel a false sense of security that all these fires will not grow anymore,” Kidd said. “This is still a very dynamic situation.”
The largest fire recorded in state history was the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire, which burned about 1,400 square miles (3,630 square kilometers) and resulted in 13 deaths.
This week, walls of flames were pushed by powerful winds while huge plumes of smoke billowed hundreds of feet in the air across the sparsely populated region. The smoke delayed aerial surveillance of the damage in some areas. “There was one point where we couldn’t see anything,” said Greg Downey, 57, describing his escape as flames bore down on his neighborhood. “I didn’t think we’d get out of it.”
The woman who died was identified by family members as Joyce Blankenship, a former substitute teacher. Her grandson, Lee Quesada, said he had posted in a community forum asking if anyone could try and locate her. Quesada said deputies told his uncle on Wednesday that they had found Blankenship’s remains in her burned home.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties. The encroaching flames caused the main facility that disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal to pause operations Tuesday night, but it was open for normal work Wednesday.
Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall described the charred terrain as being “like a moonscape. ... It's just all gone.”
Kendall said about 40 homes were burned around the perimeter of the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost inside the community. Kendall also said he saw “hundreds of cattle just dead, laying in the fields.”
Tresea Rankin videotaped her own home in Canadian as it burned. “Thirty-eight years of memories, that’s what you were thinking,” Rankin said of watching the flames destroy her house. “Two of my kids were married there ... But you know, it’s OK, the memories won’t go away.”
The small town of Fritch, north of Amarillo, lost hundreds of homes in a 2014 fire and appeared to be hit hard again. Mayor Tom Ray said Wednesday that an estimated 40-50 homes were destroyed on the southern edge. Ray said natural gas remained shut off for the town of 2,200.
Residents are probably not "prepared for what they’re going to see if they pull into town,” Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokesperson Deidra Thomas said in a social media livestream. She compared the damage to a tornado.
Near Borger, a community of about 13,000 people, emergency officials at one point late Tuesday answered questions from panicked residents on Facebook and told them to get ready to leave if they had not already. “It was like a ring of fire around Borger. There was no way out ... all four main roads were closed,” said Adrianna Hill, whose home was within about a mile of the fire. She said wind that blew the fire in the opposite direction “saved our butts.”
The Pantex nuclear weapon plant, northeast of Amarillo, evacuated nonessential staff Tuesday night out of an “abundance of caution,” said Laef Pendergraft, a spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s production office at Pantex. Firefighters remained in case of an emergency. Pantex tweeted early Wednesday that the facility was “open for normal day shift operations.”
The Smokehouse Creek Fire spread from Texas into neighboring Roger Mills County in western Oklahoma, where officials encouraged people in the Durham area to flee. At least 13 homes burned in fires in the state's Panhandle region, officials said Wednesday.
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The First Stadium Built for a National Women's Soccer League Club Is Ready to Open in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One by one the women walked onto the field for the first time, shortly before they departed for a warm-weather camp in Florida, and gazed at the stands towering above them on three sides and the scoreboard looming over them on the fourth.
For the first time, they felt as if they were home.
That's because for the first time in the history of the National Women's Soccer League — and just maybe, professional soccer worldwide — the Kansas City Current had a home every bit as good as men's teams just for themselves. Built at a cost of nearly $120 million on the banks of the Missouri River, with the downtown skyline just to the south, CPKC Stadium represents one of the few facilities in the world that has been constructed expressly for the use of female athletes. “I'm very happy for Kansas City," Brazilian star and KC Current forward Debhina would say, “but also for women's soccer.”
The 11,000-seat stadium, almost entirely privately financed, will be christened March 16, when the Current play the Portland Thorns in a game televised by ABC, providing a national showcase for just how far the club and the sport have come.
Start with the game itself, which a century ago in England imposed a ban on women playing pro matches in stadiums used by men. The sport had gone on hiatus during World War I with so many men fighting abroad, and games involving women grew so popular in their stead that 50,000 or more would turn out to watch at places such as Goodison Park.
The sport's governing body, the Football Association, felt threatened by the success and decided the game was “quite unsuitable for females,” and for more than five decades effectively banned women from playing in any FA-affiliated grounds.
The ban eventually was lifted, but it took decades more for the women's game to begin gaining traction around the world. And in the U.S., numerous leagues formed and folded over the years before the NWSL finally found its lasting foothold.
Still, most of the 14 teams in the league rent stadiums, or if they are owned by a Major League Soccer club, play in venues built for the men. The predecessor to the Current, known as FC Kansas City before it folded in 2017, played at various times at a high school football stadium, a college soccer stadium and the training field of MLS club Sporting KC.
When the club reformed as the Current in 2021, it began playing in a minor league ballpark before moving a few blocks over to Children's Mercy Park, one of the jewels of MLS but a stadium that nevertheless belonged wholly to someone else.
But the vision of the Current's ownership group, led by Chris and Angie Long and including investors such as Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, was to build facilities of their own. They began with an $18 million, purpose-built practice facility, then turned their attention to the stadium, where they could control standards, scheduling and, most importantly, revenue. “It raises the bar,” Chris Long said told The Associated Press. “People are going to want to be there. They are going to want to be in Kansas City. And I think that's going to cause a ripple-effect globally, putting forward elite facilities for women athletes.”
With women's sports on the rise, the timing hardly could be better.
The most recent season of the WNBA, whose basketball teams generally rent out facilities, is coming off its highest television viewership in more than two decades. The first season of the Professional Women's Hockey League is underway. And viewership of college sports, highlighted by Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark's pursuit of scoring history, also has been on the rise.
Nor could the timing be better in Kansas City, where a golden age of sports is underway.
The Royals, who won the World Series in 2015, are planning to build a new downtown stadium by 2028 as part of a $2 billion-plus public-private partnership. The Chiefs are coming off back-to-back Super Bowl titles, will try to become the first team in NFL history to three-peat this coming season, and are aiming for an $800 million renovation of their own at Arrowhead Stadium.
Sporting KC remains a popular draw, as do several minor league teams in the area, while the NCAA wrestling championships and Big 12 basketball tournaments will soon take place at the nearby T-Mobile Center. “From the beginning,” Angie Long explained, “we wanted to be a tier-one sports team in our city. We have asked to be treated like the Chiefs and the Royals and Sporting KC, and our expectation of ourselves is that's what we can mean to our city.”
Angie Long remembers being asked to attend an FC Kansas City game a decade ago, long before her ownership of its successor. "I was like, ‘Where’s the game?' It was at the high school,” she recalled. “The whole premise of that's what women's sports is, we want to break that mold. If you treat women's sports with this level of growth and investments, what can it be?”
Season tickets have been sold out for months, and the demand for single-game seats is strong enough that some fans already are wondering when the stadium will expand. It was designed so that seats can be added in the future.
Yet the construction of CPKC Stadium — naming rights were sold to the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway — has not been without detractors. Some are concerned about property values and traffic congestion, others a lack of parking; the club recently said spots would cost $50 per match, and many fans took to social media to express their outrage.
The club hopes many take advantage of ride-share options and public transportation to alleviate the parking concerns.
In the meantime, the countdown is on for the opening of one of the few stadiums in the world built for a women's team in any sport, and for showcasing what that could mean for professional teams elsewhere going forward. "It definitely brings energy,” former U.S. national team-turned-Current coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “When we trained in the stadium before going to Florida, the training was energetic and enthusiastic and intense, and we talked about: Can you imagine doing all of this with 11,000 people in the stands? It's exciting, and I hope we can use it to our advantage.”
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