Sacred Rock on Display in Lawrence for a Century Returned to Kaw Nation
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) - The Kaw Nation has reclaimed a sacred rock from the city of Lawrence. Jim Pepper Henry is vice chairman of the Kaw Nation. At a ceremony held Tuesday with state and city officials, Henry said the 28-ton red quartzite boulder was once a gathering place along the Kansas River for praying. But a century ago, descendants of settlers turned it into a monument to the founders of Lawrence. “White settlers that came into this area were leaving their homelands to escape oppression and suppression - and coming here for freedom," he said. "But we were truly free people and we had our freedom taken away.” Today (WED), the Kaw Nation will move the sacred rock to its last remaining tribal land in Kansas, near Council Grove. The Kaw controlled two-fifths of what is now Kansas in the early 1800s, before being forced out of the state. The tribe is now headquartered in Oklahoma. (Read more.)
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COVID Cases on the Rise Nationally and in Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - COVID cases are on the rise nationally and here in Kansas. Due to the late summer surge in COVID cases, health officials are encouraging residents to stay up to date on vaccines and take other precautions.
Kansas hospitals are only seeing about a third of the COVID hospitalizations they did last fall, but numbers are on the rise and officials say case clusters are, too. Sedgwick County health department director Adrienne Byrne recommends people get vaccinated, boosted, and consider masking in crowded environments. “When I go to a conference, I'll be wearing a mask, because I went to one in June, didn't wear a mask all the time and got COVID," she said. "During the holidays, I’ll probably (wear a) mask.”
State health officials no longer track every case, but they do track case clusters and hospitalizations - and both metrics are rising. Byrne says the uptick in cases is likely driven by summer travel and kids returning to school. “So, it’s not unexpected, but it's a reinforcer that, before the holidays, it's important to be up-to-date on vaccines because we are expecting it to spike again, which means the hospitalizations may spike and everything that comes with that," she said.
Health officials say an updated COVID booster should be available in the coming weeks, along with new RSV vaccines and a yearly flu shot.
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Kansas Reporter Files Federal Lawsuit Against Police Chief Involved in Newspaper Office Raid
UNDATED (AP) — One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday.
Deb Gruver believes Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody violated her constitutional rights when he abruptly snatched her personal cellphone out of her hands during a search where officers also seized computers from the Marion County Record's office, according to the lawsuit. That August 11 search and two others conducted at the homes of the newspaper's publisher and a City Council member have thrust the town into the center of a debate over the press protections in the First Amendment.
Cody didn't immediately respond to an email or text message from The Associated Press on Wednesday seeking comment. He has said little publicly since the raids other than posting a defense of them on the police department's Facebook page. In court documents he filed to get the search warrants, he argued that he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided, had violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.
But the newspaper's publisher, Eric Meyer, has said he believes the identity theft allegations provided a convenient excuse for the search, and the police chief was really upset about Gruver's investigation into his background with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department before he was hired in Marion earlier this year. Meyer has said he plans to file his own lawsuit.
The Record is known for its aggressive coverage of local politics and its community of 1,900 people about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.
Gruver — a veteran reporter with more than three decades of experience — said in a statement that by filing her lawsuit “I’m standing up for journalists across the country." She has previously worked at other newspapers in Kansas, Wyoming and Indiana and has won awards for her reporting.
“It is our constitutional right to do this job without fear of harassment or retribution, and our constitutional rights are always worth fighting for,” said Gruver, who had the words “Freedom of the press” tattooed on her right forearm the same day her lawsuit was filed.
The city administrator directed questions about the lawsuit to its attorney, Brian Bina, and outside council, Jennifer Hill. Neither attorney immediately returned phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The police department’s investigation of the newspaper began after a local restaurant owner accused reporters of improperly using personal information to access details about the status of her suspended driver’s license and her record that included a DUI arrest. A spokesman for the agency that maintains those records has said the reporter's search on a public website was likely legal.
The lawsuit says that the warrant expressly said that the search was supposed to focus only on equipment that was used to access those records, which was done by another reporter at the paper. But after Cody handed Gruver a copy of the warrant and she told him that she needed to call the publisher, he quickly grabbed her personal phone and took it.
“In seizing Ms. Gruver’s personal cellular phone despite the seizure exceeding the scope of the unreasonable and unlawful search warrant, Chief Cody acted in unreasonable and unnecessarily violent fashion, causing injury to plaintiff’s Gruver’s rights and her person,” the lawsuit said.
One of the officers even read Gruver, another reporter and an office administrator their Miranda rights even though they were never arrested before forcing them outside in the heat to watch the three-hour search.
After the search of the newspaper office, officers went on to search the home Meyer shared with his 98-year-old mother. Video of that raid shows how distraught his mother became as officers searched through their belongings. Meyer said he believes that stress contributed to the death of his mother, Joan Meyer, a day later.
Legal experts believe the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privacy law or a state law shielding journalists from having to identify sources or turn over unpublished material to law enforcement.
Authorities returned the computers and cellphones they took during the raids after the prosecutor decided there was insufficient evidence to justify their seizure. A judge ordered investigators Tuesday to also destroy electronic copies they made of the newspaper's files.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is looking into the newspaper's actions, but it hasn't provided any updates on its investigation.
It's not clear what action local officials might take. The City Council refused to discuss the raids at its meeting last week, and the mayor has told the Record that he doesn’t plan to take any action in response to them until after the KBI completes its investigation.
(— Related—)
Judge: Authorities Must Destroy Copies of KS Newspaper's Files
UNDATED (AP) - A judge has ordered Kansas authorities to destroy all the electronic copies they made of a small newspaper’s files that were seized when police raided its office earlier this month. Tuesday's order comes nearly two weeks after computers and cellphones seized in the search were returned. It's still not clear what action local authorities might take in response to the much-criticized August 11 raids of the Marion County Record's office and the home of its publisher and the home of a City Council member. Supporters of the small Kansas newspaper can now order T-shirts emblazoned with the Marion County Record's defiant headline: “SEIZED but not silenced.”
(-Additional reporting-)
Judge Tells Kansas Authorities to Destroy Electronic Copies of Newspaper's Files Taken During Raid
UNDATED (AP) — Kansas authorities must destroy all electronic copies they made of a small newspaper's files when police raided its office this month, a judge ordered Tuesday, nearly two weeks after computers and cellphones seized in the search were returned.
The August 11 searches of the Marion County Record's office and the homes of its publisher and a City Council member have been sharply criticized, putting Marion, a central Kansas town of about 1,900 people, at the center of a debate over the press protections offered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Attorney Bernie Rhodes, who represents the newspaper, said a judge ordered authorities to hand over those electronic records and destroy any copies they have of them along with all photographs that officers took during the raids.
The local prosecutor and sheriff agreed investigators shouldn’t keep that evidence, but Rhodes insisted on a court order to document it. It won’t be clear what files were on the drive until Rhodes gets a copy.
Authorities returned the computers and cellphones they took during the raids after the prosecutor decided there was insufficient evidence to justify their seizure. A few days later the newspaper learned from court documents about the thumb drive with an electronic copy of thousands of files taken from its computers. It wasn’t disclosed in the initial search warrant inventory.
It's not clear what additional steps authorities might take. Neither city officials nor the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into reporters’ actions, are saying much.
City Council members refused to discuss the raids at their meeting last week, and the mayor didn’t answer text message questions Tuesday about whether the raids will be on the next agenda. A spokeswoman for the KBI said it’s impossible to predict how long that agency’s investigation will take.
Insurance companies for the city and the county have hired lawyers to prepare for possible lawsuits, including one promised by the newspaper’s publisher.
Supporters of the small Kansas newspaper can now order T-shirts emblazoned with the Marion County Record’s defiant headline “SEIZED but not silenced” that led its front page in the first edition after the raids. The plain black shirts feature the headline in block letters across the front along with the date of the raids.
The Kansas Press Association organized the T-shirt sale to show support for the newspaper. Executive Director Emily Bradbury said proceeds from the $24.49 shirts and $40.49 hoodies and other items that are supposed to be ready next week will go to the Kansas Newspaper Foundation that supports publications like the Marion County Record across the state.
The raids came after a local restaurant owner accused the newspaper of illegally accessing information about her. A spokesman for the agency that maintains those records has said the newspaper's online search that a reporter did was likely legal even though the reporter needed personal information about the restaurant owner that a tipster provided to look up her driving record.
Police Chief Gideon Cody didn't respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. He said in affidavits used to obtain the search warrants that he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided, had violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.
The newspaper's publisher Eric Meyer has said the identity theft allegations simply provided a convenient excuse for the search after his reporters had been digging for background on Cody, who was appointed this summer.
Legal experts believe the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privacy law or a state law shielding journalists from having to identify sources or turn over unpublished material to law enforcement.
Video of the raid on the home of publisher Eric Meyer shows how distraught his 98-year-old mother became as officers searched through their belongings. Meyer said he believes that stress contributed to the death of his mother, Joan Meyer, a day later.
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Kansas Lawmakers Examining Issues with Suspended Driver's Licenses
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas lawmakers are looking at ways to make it easier for people to get their driver's license back after it’s been revoked. More than 120,000 Kansans lost their driving privileges primarily because they couldn’t pay a ticket. That can result in some people driving illegally to get to work. In some cases, it is easier for drivers with a DUI conviction to get behind the wheel again than it is for someone who couldn’t afford to pay off a ticket. At a hearing Tuesday, Democratic state Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau said changes are needed. “All I've been wanting for is not a get out of jail free card," she said. "It simply allows the revoked driver to participate in the current restrictive driver's license program.” She says that would let people legally drive to places like work or the grocery store. “People will call me and they'll say, ‘I paid my fines’ … and they'll say, but I still can't get my driver's license reinstated," Faust-Goudeau said. She's introduced a bill that would make it easier for people who can’t afford a ticket to get their driving privileges back. The Kansas News Service reports that around 60% of Kansans who get their driver's license suspended wind up losing their driving privileges because they can't afford to pay off a ticket.
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FBI and European Partners Seize Major Malware Network in Blow to Global Cybercrime
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. officials said Tuesday that the FBI and its European partners infiltrated and seized control of a major global malware network used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks.
They then remotely removed the malicious software agent — known as Qakbot — from thousands of infected computers.
Cybersecurity experts said they were impressed by the deft dismantling of the network but cautioned that any setback to cybercrime would likely be temporary.
“Nearly ever sector of the economy has been victimized by Qakbot,” Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said Tuesday in announcing the takedown. He said the criminal network had facilitated about 40 ransomware attacks alone over 18 months that investigators said netted Qakbot administrators about $58 million.
Qakbot's ransomware victims included an Illinois-based engineering firm, financial services organizations in Alabama and Kansas, along with a Maryland defense manufacturer and a Southern California food distribution company, Estrada said.
Officials said $8.6 million in cybercurrency was seized or frozen but no arrests were announced.
Estrada said the investigation is ongoing. He would not say where administrators of the malware, which marshaled infected machines into a botnet of zombie computers, were located. Cybersecurity researchers say they are believed to be in Russia and/or other former Soviet states.
Officials estimated the so-called malware loader, a digital Swiss knife for cybercrooks also known as Pinkslipbot and Qbot, was leveraged to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage since first appearing in 2008 as an information-stealing bank trojan. They said millions of people in nearly every country in the world have been affected.
Typically delivered via phishing email infections, Qakbot gave criminal hackers initial access to violated computers. They could then deploy additional payloads including ransomware, steal sensitive information or gather intelligence on victims to facilitate financial fraud and crimes such as tech support and romance scams.
The Qakbot network was “literally feeding the global cybercrime supply chain,” said Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, calling it “one of the most devastating cybercriminal tools in history.” The most commonly detected malware in the first half of 2023, Qakbot impacted one in 10 corporate networks and accounted for about 30% of attacks globally, a pair of cybersecurity firms found. Such “initial access” tools allow extortionist ransomware gangs to skip the initial step of penetrating computer networks, making them major facilitators for the far-flung, mostly Russian-speaking criminals who have wreaked havoc by stealing data and disrupting schools, hospitals, local governments and businesses worldwide.
Beginning Friday in an operation officials dubbed “Duck Hunt,” the FBI along with Europol and law enforcement and justice partners in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Latvia seized more than 50 Qakbot servers and identified more than 700,000 infected computers, more than 200,000 of them in the U.S. — effectively cutting off criminals from their quarry.
The FBI then used the seized Qakbot infrastructure to remotely dispatch updates that deleted the malware from thousands of infected computers. A senior FBI official, briefing reporters on condition he not be further identified, called that number “fluid” and cautioned that other malware may have remained on machines liberated from Qakbot.
It was the FBI's biggest success against cybercrooks since it “hacked the hackers” with the January takedown of the prolific Hive ransomware gang.
“It is an impressive takedown. Qakbot was the largest botnet" in number of victims, said Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based Hold Security. But he said it may have been a casualty of its own success in its staggering growth over the past few years. “Large botnets today tend to implode as too many threat actors are mining this data for various types of abuse.”
Cybersecurity expert Chester Wisniewski at Sophos agreed that while there could be a temporary drop in ransomware attacks, the criminals can be expected to either revive infrastructure elsewhere or move to other botnets.
“This will cause a lot of disruption to some gangs in the short term, but it will do nothing from it being rebooted," he said. "Albeit it takes a long time to recruit 700,000 PCs.”
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Child Care Providers Struggle, Despite High Demand
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Child care is hard for Kansas parents to find. It's so difficult that some providers say people should start looking for infant care the second they know a baby is coming. Child care providers are also struggling to grow, despite their businesses being in high demand. As one provider said, "The misconception is that we're just rolling in money, you know, because parents think $145 a week is expensive... but it doesn't pay for an employee to make a living wage.” (Read more.)
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Chiefs Waive Shane Buechele, Keep Blaine Gabbert as Backup QB
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KPR) - The Kansas City Chiefs shuffled their roster to reach the 53-player limit for the regular season. One of the team's moves caught many by surprise. Shane Buechele was the Chiefs’ third quarterback last season and saw extensive action in this summer’s exhibition games. But the Chiefs waived him, so former Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert will back up Patrick Mahomes. In another move, the Chiefs placed defensive tackle Chris Jones on the “did not report” list. As a result, Jones does not count against the 53-player roster. Though Jones is in the last year of his current contract, he’s holding out for a contract extension.
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PGA Star Gary Woodland to Have Surgery to Remove Brain Lesion
UNDATED (AP) — Former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland said Wednesday he will have surgery to remove a lesion found on his brain.
Woodland, a four-time PGA Tour winner, announced on social media he was diagnosed with the lesion a few months ago and has been trying to treat the symptoms with medication.
“After consulting with multiple specialists and discussing with my family, we've made the decision that surgery to remove the lesion is the best course of action,” Woodland wrote. “I'm in good spirits with my family and team by my side and so thankful for the love and support of everyone.”
Woodland, 39, failed to reach the PGA Tour postseason for the first time since 2012, finishing at No. 94 in the FedEx Cup in a year when only the top 70 advanced.
Woodland, a three-sport star growing up in Kansas, won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2019 by holding off Brooks Koepka in the final round with a pitch he played from one end to the other of the fabled 17th green
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Tom Parkinson and Kaye McIntyre. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. You can also follow KPR News on Twitter.