World Remembers D-Day and the Kansas Man Who Planned the Invasion
UNDATED (KPR) - It's the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, one of the most pivotal battles of World War II. It was on June 6th, 1944 that American and allied forces landed on the beaches of France to fight the occupying army of Nazi Germany. General Dwight Eisenhower, who grew up in Abilene, Kansas, planned the invasion and delivered a message to his troops before the battle. "The eyes of the world are upon you," he said. "The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with
you." D-Day was the largest military invasion in history, involving thousands of ships, planes and soldiers. General Eisenhower later became the 34th president of the United States. Eisenhower's life and times are on display at his presidential museum and library in Abilene, where he and his wife are buried.
Listen to what general Dwight Eisenhower told his troops just before the D-Day invasion.
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D-Day Anniversary Shines a Spotlight on 'Rosie the Riveter' Women Who Built the Weapons of WWII
PEGASUS BRIDGE, France (AP) — When the 5,000th B-17 bomber built after Pearl Harbor rolled out of its Boeing factory, teenage riveter Anna Mae Krier made sure it would carry a message from the women of World War II: She signed her name on it. Now 98, and in Normandy, France, for this week's 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Krier is still proudly promoting the vital roles played by women in the June 6, 1944, invasion and throughout the war — including by making weaponry that enabled men to fight. Krier was among millions of women who rolled up their sleeves in defense-industry factories, replacing men who volunteered and were called up for combat in the Pacific, Africa and Europe.
The women had their own icon in “Rosie the Riveter,” a woman in a polka-dotted bandanna flexing a muscular arm in a recruitment poster that declared: “We can do it!”
After Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that pitched the United States into war on Dec. 7, 1941, “every man, woman and child just went to work,” Krier recalled Wednesday as she visited the site of an iconic D-Day battle, Pegasus Bridge.
The North Dakota native was 17 when she went to work in 1943 as a riveter on B-17 and B-29 bombers. She helped build more than 6,000 aircraft, according to her biography provided by the Best Defense Foundation, which brought her to Normandy for the anniversary. “Us women built all that equipment, the airplanes, the tanks, the ammunition" and ships used in the Allied invasion of Normandy that helped liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler's tyranny, Krier said. She added: “We weren’t doing it for honors and awards. We were doing it to save our country. And we ended up helping save the world.”
Women flew the planes that women built, too.
The pioneering Women Airforce Service Pilots, known as WASPs, fulfilled an array of noncombat flight missions, including flying planes from factories on their way to the front, that freed male pilots for battle. Thirty-eight of the women were killed in wartime service. Long considered civilians, not members of the military, they weren’t entitled to the pay and benefits men received. Only in 1977, after a long fight, did they get veteran status, followed in 2010 with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress.
Women defense workers also received little notice or appreciation at first. Krier was among ex-"Rosies" who pushed successfully for their contribution to be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal. “That made me so proud,” she said. “And I’m just so proud of our young women. We opened doors for the young women today. But look what you women are doing. We’re just so happy to see what you’re doing with your lives. I think that’s great.”
Connie Palacioz, another “Rosie” who punched rivets on the nose sections of B-29 bombers in Kansas, didn't tell her future family about the details of her wartime work because “I never thought it was important to (say) that I was a riveter.” The 99-year-old Palacioz is also in Normandy for the D-Day anniversary, part of a veterans group flown over by American Airlines. “All the men were at the war. So us women had to do the job," she said. "So there was a lot of Rosie the Riveters.”
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Kansas Secretary of State Invalidates Unwanted Third-Party Nomination
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Kansas state Senator Marci Francisco is praising a choice to cancel her nomination as a candidate representing a minor third party. The Kansas News Service reports that Francisco, a Democrat from Lawrence, was blindsided this week when the party No Labels Kansas nominated her to run for her own seat. The Kansas secretary of state's office quickly invalidated Francisco’s nomination. Francisco says she never heard from the No Labels party before they put her name down. “I think it's an indication of what some people are willing to do to make the process less transparent, less understandable,” she added. Kris Van Meteren is a conservative consultant who filed for Francisco to run with the No Labels party. He said the Secretary of State was wrong to cancel the nomination.
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Kansas Republican Legislators Speak Out on Efforts to Lure Chiefs
UNDATED (KNS) – Kansas Republican legislative leaders spoke out Thursday in favor of their new bid to lure the Kansas City Chiefs to the Sunflower State. The Kansas News Service reports that Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins say they want to create special incentives for a major sports team to build a stadium in Kansas. But the special session where they plan to introduce these new STAR Bonds, as the perks are known, is being called to consider tax cuts. Masterson told KCUR that “...we can walk and chew gum at the same time...and it seems very timely, that sports and entertainment, it kind of transcends in human interest...so we thought it was worth having a real conversation,” adding that lawmakers can work on both tax cuts and incentives. Lawmakers will have to put the proposal together before the special session starts on the 18th.
(–Earlier Reporting–)
Kansas Leaders Try to Lure Kansas City Chiefs Away from Missouri
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — The state of Kansas is making a play to lure the Kansas City Chiefs from Missouri to Kansas. Top legislative leader have intensified efforts to woo the Super Bowl champion Chiefs to the state by offering to let the professional football franchise shape a plan for using state bonds to finance a new stadium in Kansas.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson said late yesterday (TUE) that the Legislature would consider the proposal during a special session set to convene June 18. The two leaders invited the Chiefs to weigh in on the plan in a May 23 letter to the team's chairman and CEO. Meanwhile, a new nonprofit group called Scoop and Score has launched a campaign for the proposal and registered 20 lobbyists. Scoop and Score started an online petition aimed at the Legislature, sent texts saying the Chiefs “deserve a permanent home in Kansas,” and registered 20 lobbyists to represent it at the Statehouse, including a former House speaker and some of the state's most prominent contract lobbyists.
Kansas officials saw an opening in early April after voters on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area decisively refused to extend a local sales tax used to keep up the complex housing the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium, home to professional baseball’s Kansas City Royals. “Your insights and expertise are invaluable in shaping the success of this project,” Hawkins and Masterson said in their letter. “Your organization’s stature and experience in professional sports will help shape our understanding and ensure that this initiative aligns with the interests of all stakeholders involved.
The lobbyists who registered to represent Scoop and Score included Ron Ryckman Jr., a Kansas City-area businessman who served as Kansas House speaker from 2017 through 2022. His former legislative chief of staff, Paje Resner, also registered, and she was listed as the group’s incorporator when it filed its articles of incorporation with the state on May 13.
Hunt told reporters in April that the Chiefs would take “a broader perspective” about the team’s future home after the vote in Missouri. The Chiefs had hoped to use their share of the local sales tax to help pay for an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead.
The plan favored by Hawkins, Masterson and other members of the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature would pay off bonds for a new stadium with sales and alcohol tax revenues generated in a designated area around the stadium. It would be similar to how the state and officials in Kansas City, Kansas, financed construction of NASCAR's Kansas Speedway and an adjacent shopping and entertainment district. “We are poised to make the Kansas City Chiefs even stronger,” Hawkins and Masterson said in their letter. “It also promises to be a victory for Kansas taxpayers and a game-changer for our state’s economy.”
Some legislators were pushing a similar proposal to build new stadiums in Kansas for both the Chiefs and the Royals before lawmakers adjourned their annual session May 1, but the plan never came to a vote. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly called the special session to consider broad tax cuts after vetoing three previous tax plans, but legislators can consider whatever they want.
The earlier stadium-financing proposal faced opposition from Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, a small-government, low-tax group long against the use of such bonds and influential with Republicans. Critics have argued that using the bonds for big projects represents the state picking economic winners and losers instead of the free market.
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Officer Injured During Police Search of Home in Rossville
SHAWNEE COUNTY, Kan. (KPR) - A law enforcement officer suffered minor injuries this (THUR) morning while searching a home in Shawnee County. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation's Cyber Crime Unit and the Rossville Police Department executed a search warrant for child sexual abuse materials at a home in Rossville (at 128 Pearl Street). According to the KBI, an occupant of the home, 55-year-old John Ross, became combative while being detained. During that time, Ross allegedly bit a task force agent, breaking the skin. The agent was treated and released. Ross was taken to a Topeka hospital for treatment of minor injuries and released. He was arrested on charges of aggravated battery and obstruction of legal process, and is in custody at the Shawnee County Detention Center. Authorities say methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found inside the home. The investigation into child sexual abuse material and drug possession continues.
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Kansas Selected to Join Federal Program Covering More Mental Health Services
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (KNS) – More Kansas residents may soon be able to get mental health and substance abuse services from the state. The Kansas News Service reports that the state has been added to a federal program that provides more money to cover those services. The program supplies Kansas with federal funding to cover a larger portion of Medicaid costs associated with behavioral health treatment. Those services are provided at 26 community clinics across Kansas. Drew Adkins of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services says the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to more people suffering from mental health issues. “It has also highlighted the need for more mental and behavioral health services.” Kansas is one of 18 states selected for the program. Missouri and Oklahoma were already participating.
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State Commission Approves Full Coverage of Breast Imaging Tests for State Employees
UNDATED (The Beacon) – Kansas state employees will get full coverage of more advanced breast cancer screenings. The Beacon reports that some lawmakers want the same benefit for all Kansans. Kansas lawmakers tried to shift the cost of the cancer screenings from patients to insurance companies. The bill would make insurance plans cover mammography, sonograms and other breast-image screenings. But leaders in the Legislature were reluctant to mandate the terms of insurance plans. However, a state commission recently approved the coverage for state employees. Molly Guthrie with the Susan G. Komen Foundation says that’s a welcome step, but she wants to see this coverage for all Kansas women. “Coverage of these things exist. They're included in almost all health plans, but they come with significant out of pocket costs for patients,” she added. Almost two dozen states, including Missouri, require coverage of all the tests.
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A New Nebraska Law Makes Court Diversion Program Available to Veterans, and Other States Could Follow
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Facing his fifth drunk driving offense in 25 years, Robert Jackson of Olathe, Kansas, was given a choice: go to court and take a possible jail sentence, or commit to a diversion program that keeps military veterans out of jail.
Jackson didn't hesitate to take the option that would wipe the DUI from his record. After all, he'd been through U.S. Marine Corps boot camp and Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War, developing the grit that earned him salesman of the year for seven years straight at his job. How hard could a diversion program be?
“I mean, it was intense. It was not a cake walk," Jackson said.
Those seeking to get at-risk military veterans the help they need say a new Nebraska law that makes judicial diversion available for some veterans is serving as a model for other states.
The law signed by Gov. Jim Pillen in April makes Nebraska the first in the nation to adopt a model recommended by the Veterans Justice Commission, co-chaired by a former U.S. senator from Nebraska and one-time Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel.
Until the new law was signed, special veterans treatment programs had been offered in four district courts across Nebraska's 93 counties. Under the new law, the diversion program is expanded to every district judge, allowing all criminal court judges to order treatment instead of prosecution for veterans facing parole-eligible, nonviolent felonies.
Eligible veterans must demonstrate that a service-related condition contributed to their offense and must agree to undergo court supervision combined with individualized treatment for PTSD, traumatic brain injury, mental health challenges or other conditions. To avoid already overburdened state treatment programs, the veterans diversion offers treatment through underutilized U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs programs, officials said.
Hagel, himself a decorated Vietnam War veteran, is all too familiar with the struggles that combat veterans face in returning to civilian life. Hagel served in combat with his brother in 1968 — a year that saw nearly 17,000 U.S. troops killed in action. Over the years since, he's seen soldiers he served with struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, alcoholism and drug abuse. Some have taken their own lives.
Increasingly, many have ended up behind bars. The commission estimates that nearly 200,000 military veterans are in prisons and jails across the country.
“You know, something is wrong with that,” Hagel said. “I mean, veterans who served their country in different capacities, obviously, at some point in their careers, we’re very responsible people. And what happened? How did they end up in jail, in prisons?”
Much of the answer, he believes, can be found in trauma exacerbated by multiple deployments many military service members saw to combat zones during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In a report released last year, the commission found that as many as 1 in 3 of the nation’s 19 million military veterans have reported being arrested at least once. The report recommended that instead of prison sentences, state and federal laws should create or expand judicial diversion,
Now, at least a dozen other states are looking to follow Nebraska's lead and pass similar legislation, said Army Col. Jim Seward, director of the Veterans Justice Commission. The commission will also be tracking the success of Nebraska's new statewide diversion law to determine best practices and any tweaks that could make it better.
“We’re in discussions with numerous states across the country who are considering this legislation or preparing to consider it next year,” Seward said. The commission is also working with the National Conference of State Legislatures to push for legislation similar to Nebraska's and will attend the conference's annual summit in August in Louisville, Kentucky, he said.
Jackson acknowledged that his run-ins with the law stemmed from a drinking problem he picked up during his military service. Completed missions and other accomplishments while in uniform were usually celebrated with rounds of drinks, he recalled. After his service, he continued that pattern as he found success in the workforce.
“Whenever I won salesman of the month or salesman of the year or if I sold like six cars in a day or something like that, then it's celebration time,” he said. “Whenever I got a DUI, it was always doing some kind of celebration.”
Jackson successfully completed his diversion program in December. It stands apart from other treatment he's been ordered to participate in, he said.
“I can remember being 50 years old, sitting in rehab with a bunch of teenagers,” Jackson said. “They’re blaming everything on their parents and all this kind of stuff. That did me no good. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t identify with anyone.”
But at the diversion treatment meetings, he was surrounded by other veterans who talked about their time in combat. That not only helped him deal with his own trauma, it gave him the chance to be able to help other vets in the program. That motivated him to continue going to treatment meetings.
“As a matter of fact, I still go to them,” he said.
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Johnson County Health Leaders Urge Awareness of Fentanyl Risks
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (Johnson County Post / KCUR) – Johnson County health leaders are urging greater awareness of fake pills containing fentanyl as use continues to increase among teens and young adults. The Johnson County Post reports that four years ago, fewer than eight percent of teens entering Johnson County’s adolescent treatment center reported using opioids. By last year, that number rose to more than 50 percent. Rachael Perez with the county Mental Health Center says they’re trying to increase awareness of how the issue is playing out in Johnson County. "You never know when you might be exposed to kind of a substance or a fake pill such as fentanyl and so always approach it with caution," she added. The county hosts a fentanyl safety event Thursday at 5:30 pm at Olathe Downtown Library.
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Florida and Kansas Accuse 2 People of Forging Signatures for Petition Drives
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Florida and Kansas officials are accusing two petition circulators of forging voter signatures during campaigns to put an abortion rights measure to a vote in Florida and allow the No Labels party to put candidates on the Kansas ballot. Jamie Johnson, 47, and George Andrews III, 30, both from Dade City, Florida, in the Tampa area, were in jail Wednesday, each on $150,000 bail. Johnson was being held in Sarpy County, Nebraska, south of Omaha, and Andrews in the Tampa area. Each faces 20 felony charges in Florida, while in Kansas, Andrews faces 30 felony counts and Johnson, 19.
While Andrews has been in custody in Florida since February, authorities in both states couldn't find Johnson until she was arrested a week ago in Nebraska. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced the arrest Tuesday and said he is seeking to bring Johnson to Kansas for prosecution. She is scheduled to have a July 1 extradition hearing in Nebraska.
Kobach's office said Andrews and Johnson together forged at least 46 signatures on petitions to get the centrist No Labels group recognized as a political party in Kansas, which allows it to put nominees on the November ballot.
Florida officials said Andrews and Johnson submitted a total of 133 invalid petitions in multiple counties during the effort to get the abortion rights measure on the November ballot. Neither successful petition drive appears to have depended on the signatures the two submitted. In Kansas, No Labels needed more than 20,000, while in Florida, the figure was at least 891,500.
Still, Kobach said that with election fraud, “It doesn't matter how far you run.”
"We will drag you back to Kansas and prosecute you,” Kobach said in a statement.
A public defender representing Andrews in Florida did not return a telephone message Wednesday seeking comment. Tom Strigenz, a public defender for Johnson in Nebraska, said she does not have an attorney in Kansas and that she will fight extradition to both Florida and Kansas. Stringenz couldn't say whether Johnson was in Nebraska to circulate petitions for proposed ballot initiatives there. She has no ties the state, he said.
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Protest Targets Wichita-Area Library
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – Protesters opposing gay and transgender-themed books emptied the shelves at a Wichita-area library recently. The Kansas News Service reports that a Wichita pastor recently directed members of his congregation to mark Pride Month by checking out mass amounts of LGBTQ books from their local library. The goal was to keep children from accessing the books. The pastor, Kyle Lammott, posted a photo on social media of more than 100 books checked out of the Andover Public Library. Library director Tom Taylor says the protest could backfire because libraries track demand as they replenish their collections. “If the strategy is to get them away from kids, in the short term it would work. But in the long run, we’d be more likely to buy those titles because of the usage,” Taylor said. Titles checked out by the protesters include novels with gay characters and an autobiography of tennis star Billie Jean King.
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Missouri Appeals Court Sides with Transgender Student in Discrimination Case
BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) — A $4.2 million verdict that jurors ordered a Missouri district to pay a transgender student is under consideration again. The Western District Missouri Court of Appeals found Tuesday that a judge erred in ordering a new trial in a lawsuit over bathroom and locker room access. The decision sends the case against the Blue Springs School District back to the trial court to determine the reasonableness of the sum jurors awarded in 2021.
Judge Anthony Rex Gabbert, who authored the appeals court’s unanimous decision, wrote that the district discriminated because the student did not fit their stereotype of what a male should be. “This is no different than discriminating against a male because he is not tall enough or not muscular enough,” Gabbert wrote. The school district said in a statement that it was disappointed by the reversal and is weighing its legal options. It said it couldn’t comment further because the case is pending.
The student, identified in court documents as R.M.A., legally changed his name in 2010 and amended his birth certificate to reflect his gender and new name in 2014, according to the lawsuit, which was filed the next year. Although the state recognized him as a boy, the district denied him access to the boys’ restrooms and locker rooms at Delta Woods Middle School and the Freshman Center, the lawsuit said.
The student participated in boy’s physical education and athletics in middle school but was required to use a single-person bathroom outside the boys’ locker room, according to court documents. He did not participate in fall sports at the Freshman Center because he could not use the boys’ locker room or restrooms.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the state’s human rights laws against sex discrimination could be extended to people who don’t conform to gender stereotypes, which was considered a significant decision for transgender rights at the time.
Similar issues are at play in a lawsuit that the ACLU filed against the Platte County School District.
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KU Loses Men's Basketball Guard Elmarko Jackson to Injury
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas guard Elmarko Jackson, who started 17 games as a freshman and was expected to be a big contributor this season, tore his patellar tendon during a scrimmage at Jayhawks coach Bill Self's basketball camp. Jackson, who was injured Tuesday, will have surgery in the next few days, the school said Wednesday, but the rehab process is likely to take a full year. That is a major blow to the backcourt of the Jayhawks, whom many expect to be the No. 1 team in the preseason AP Top 25. Jackson, a former McDonald's All-American, averaged 4.3 points last season.
“We are all crushed by this,” Self said in a statement. “Elmarko has had a terrific spring. He has worked so hard and has improved so much. This will be a challenge that he will meet head-on and he will return as good as ever.”
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AP Source: Chiefs Backup Lineman Taken to Hospital After Cardiac Event During Team Meeting
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs backup player B.J. Thompson was taken to a hospital in stable condition Thursday after the defensive lineman experienced a cardiac event during a team meeting, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
The person, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the event, said team trainers and medical staff were able to react quickly and treat Thompson until paramedics arrived.
The Chiefs planned to wrap up their voluntary offseason workouts on Thursday, but a team spokesman said the practice would be pushed to Friday. That is when Chiefs coach Andy Reid and other players will speak to reporters.
The 27-year-old Thompson was a fifth-round pick of the Chiefs out of Stephen F. Austin in last year's draft. The only game Thompson appeared in was their regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Chargers, when Kansas City already had clinched its playoff spot and the game's outcome was meaningless. Thompson had two tackles in that game.
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Kyle Isbel's RBI Single Lifts the Royals Past the Guardians, 4-3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kyle Isbel hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning that scored Adam Frazier and the Kansas City Royals beat the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians 4-3 on Thursday.
Frazier doubled off Hunter Gaddis (3-2) with two outs and Isbel followed with a liner to right, giving Kansas City a split of the two-game series. The clubs were rained out on Wednesday.
The Royals pulled within four games of Cleveland in the division, winning for the third time in 10 games since May 25. Sam Long (1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh and James McArthur picked up his 12th save in 16 chances.
José Ramírez hit a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Guardians, who have the third-best record in baseball at 40-21, trailing the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. Cleveland entered the day an MLB-best 21-7 at home.
Isbel was in the lineup for the first time since Sunday, when he sustained a head injury in a collision with teammate Bobby Witt Jr. against San Diego. He also is recovering from small facial fractures after fouling a ball off his face at Tampa Bay on May 25.
Ramírez, who leads the majors with 60 RBIs, gave the Guardians a 2-1 lead in the third with a 422-foot blast into the right-field stands. He also singled home Steven Kwan in the fourth to make it 3-1, chasing Royals starter Brady Singer.
Kansas City scored twice in the sixth to tie it at 3. Hunter Renfroe doubled in Freddy Fermin, and then MJ Melendez jumped over the attempted tag of Guardians catcher Bo Naylor and touched home on Isbel’s grounder.
Ramírez homered for the eighth time in 20 games and has 50 RBIs in his last 46 contests.
Guardians starter Tanner Bibee struck out seven in five innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits. Singer had his shortest outing of 2024, going 3 2/3 innings and giving up two earned runs.
Both teams scored unearned runs in the first. Royals leadoff hitter Maikel Garcia reached on a miscue by Gold Glove second baseman Andrés Giménez and scored on Vinnie Pasquantino’s double. For Cleveland, Kwan singled and scored on a Josh Naylor grounder.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: 2B Michael Massey (low back ligament strain), who was placed on the 10-day injured list on May 26, will be re-assessed Friday in Kansas City. “He felt a little better yesterday, so we’ll see when he can start working toward some baseball activities,” manager Matt Quatraro said.
UP NEXT
Royals: LHP Daniel Lynch IV (0-0, 1.50 ERA) faces Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (5-5, 3.18) as Kansas City begins a seven-game homestand Friday.
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