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In my Kansas backyard, a parable for Texas school shooting  – Kansas Reflector

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In my Kansas backyard, a parable for Texas school shooting  – Kansas Reflector


Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion items from writers who share our purpose of widening the dialog about how public insurance policies have an effect on the day-to-day lives of individuals all through our state. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Affiliation and teaches visible journalism and photojournalism on the College of Kansas.

My daughter got here in from our yard to inform me one thing was improper.

Our household canine, she stated, had one thing. A child hen.

That morning, like many different mornings just lately, I struggled to pry myself away from studying information, listening to podcasts and weighing coverage responses to gun violence in America. Most of my time on the subject has been scrolling by social media, studying posts of anguish and frustration responding to the varsity shootings in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 college students and two lecturers.

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Opening the again door onto our deck, I walked out into the slanting daylight of a quiet Kansas summer time morning. Within the grass under me, our canine stood over a small tuft of feathers nestled into the grass.

“Come right here, woman,” I requested gently at first. “Depart it.”

She regarded up at me and froze, her entrance ft remained astride the brown child hen. She didn’t transfer. 

“Mae. Come right here!” I ordered. She regarded down on the hen after which again to me, by no means budging. 

As I walked down the staircase to the yard, I remembered. A month earlier than, I had been trimming the bushes only a few yards away from the place my canine now stood. As I clipped stray limbs, I heard loud squawks and tweets immediately above my head. I regarded as much as see a nest, only a foot away.

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“Don’t fear,” I informed the unseen birds, as I moved away from the bush after clipping the final department. “We’re not going to harm anyone. The whole lot’s all proper.”

The scene turned greater than merely an on a regular basis anecdote about our canine catching a small animal. This small tragedy of nature in our yard turned a parable: a narrative echoing the grief and powerlessness of fogeys throughout the nation as they arrive at faculties to search out carnage and despair.

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Now, standing subsequent to our canine and its prey, I noticed the cardinal dad and mom watching us. I noticed the daddy first, his vibrant pink coloring perched on a snaking tree trunk on our again fence line. He darted to a fence publish, then again to the tree trunk, after which to a tree department. As he did, he voiced an pressing, staccato name. The mom, along with her muted pink plumage, was flitting between completely different perches and squawking as nicely.

The scene turned greater than merely an on a regular basis anecdote about our canine catching a small animal. This small tragedy of nature in our yard turned a parable: a narrative echoing the grief and powerlessness of fogeys throughout the nation as they arrive at faculties to search out carnage and despair.

The stillness at my ft — my canine and the infant hen — contrasted the frantic motion and voices of the cardinals. 

I assumed the hen was useless. I grasped my canine’s collar, pulling her again into the home. She craned her neck again to the infant hen, drawn to her prey by forces she couldn’t management or perceive. 

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Inside, I discovered a plastic bag to take away the hen’s physique. My children, bereft on the prospect of loss of life in our yard, regarded by the slats within the blinds. 

Outdoors once more, I bent down over the lifeless child hen, the mom and father nonetheless circling the scene. I regarded towards them after which glanced again towards the bush with the nest. I imagined the scene that had occurred there this morning. The child hen possible had stepped to the sting of the nest for one among its first makes an attempt at flight.

I imagined the dad and mom watching these first flaps. After weeks of tending their egg within the nest, after weeks of feeding their hatchling, after shielding it from spring thunderstorms, their child hen grew daring sufficient to fly — if solely briefly.

All of that nurturing, I spotted, had ended with this scene. My canine thought that one other life was a squeaky toy, a sport. The dad and mom have been propelled to behave however frozen from serving to. And I used to be powerless to assist till it was too late.

My fingers scooped below the tufted wings and impossibly small bones of the infant hen, lifting it from the grass. The ultimate few chirps from the hen answered its dad and mom a couple of yards away. I couldn’t look twice after I caught my first glimpse of the hen’s eyes, shrouded now by its eyelids. I carried the small physique to the trash bin.

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Returning to the again door, I noticed the dad and mom once more, crossing paths in flight as they searched the empty yard. They nonetheless known as out, unanswered.

For hours, they remained there, two cardinal dad and mom in a yard vigil that has haunted my week because it runs parallel to our nationwide human tragedies of younger lives shattered.

By means of its opinion part, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who find themselves affected by public insurance policies or excluded from public debate. Discover info, together with learn how to submit your personal commentary, right here.



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Kansas influencer SB Mowing raises over $750K for elderly homeowner who faced fine from city for overgrown lawn

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Kansas influencer SB Mowing raises over 0K for elderly homeowner who faced fine from city for overgrown lawn


A Kansas influencer raised over $793,000 to save a disabled elderly woman who faced a hefty fine from her town for failing to trim her overgrown yard.

Spencer, a content creator known for his landscaping business SB Mowing, said he met homeowner Beth last summer when a town official familiar with his social media videos contacted him and asked if he could help fix her lawn.

He was warned that Beth, who uses a cane to move around her property, needed to trim the yard or pay $240 for the town, which was not revealed in the video, to cut it for her.

An influencer raised $793,000 to change the life of a disabled woman. GoFundMe

‘I’ve spent a month trying to get someone to come mow,” Beth said in a video uploaded on Jan. 10. “They won’t answer their phones.”

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Beth revealed that the town officials had implemented a date for when she was required to have the yard cut before she faced the financial loss.

Spencer described the lawn that surrounded Beth’s small white house as unkept and was “getting crazy.”

“I can get that taken care of for ya,” Spencer assured her, offering his landscaping service at no cost.

“I can’t believe it that’s great,” Beth replied.

Spencer transformed her lawn by clearing grass from the driveway cracks, trimming the bushes, removing trees and mowing very tall grass.

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Spencer stepped in after lawn care companies wouldn’t help Beth. GoFundMe
Spencer offered his landscaping service at no cost. GoFundMe

“I cried on and off just listening to your machine,” Beth told Spencer after the big reveal.

Spencer added that he was happy to help Beth as she became emotional over the gesture.

“Your work makes me twinkle so I really appreciate you. I can’t tell you how much. No one’s been happy to help me,” she added.

On top of the lawn issues, Spencer then noticed the home needed improvements to accommodate Beth, who was “in desperate need of help.”

The money raised will help Beth “gain accessibility and comfort” on her property. GoFundMe

Spencer launched a GoFundMe when he noticed how Beth’s old stairs posed an issue for her to walk on and that the driveway cracks could cause her to fall.

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The small business owner raised over a half million dollars within a day to help her “gain accessibility and comfort” on other parts of her property.

Funds raised will help address accessibility issues she faces including building a new ramp outside so it’s easier for her to get to her front door, a smooth driveway and a chair lift that will allow her to get up and down stairs for her laundry.

“We’re gonna be able to do a little bit more than just your driveway and your ramp here,” Spencer revealed. GoFundMe

The money will also pay a lawn care company to maintain her yard for the “next few years” because Spencer lives too far away.

The elderly homeowner was stunned when she received the life-changing donation.

“I can’t even cry,” Beth said. “I can’t even think.”

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“I never expected help ever, ever, ever. I always help people until I got down and out,” Beth added.

“We’re gonna be able to do a little bit more than just your driveway and your ramp here,” Spencer revealed.

Spencer is making sure all the money that was raised doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

“I am also working with an attorney to set up a trust for her to make sure that all of the funds are protected,” Spencer wrote in an update on the GoFundMe page. “I don’t want anybody trying to take advantage of her and I want to make sure that the funds are used properly.”

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Kansas City-based Jack Cooper Transport to lay off 406 employees after losing Ford contract

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Kansas City-based Jack Cooper Transport to lay off 406 employees after losing Ford contract


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jack Cooper Transport Company, LLC, notified state officials last week of its plans to lay off more than 400 people and terminate its Kansas City operations, according to a filing obtained by KSHB 41.

Last week, KSHB 41 News reported on details that the Kansas City-based company had lost a key contract to transport vehicles at several Ford assembly plants across the country, including Ford’s Claycomo Assembly Plant.

In a Jan. 6 letter to the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, a company human resources representative said 129 casual yard workers, 116 drivers and 107 yard employees would lose their jobs by Feb. 2.

The company also said it planned to close its facility at 1240 Claycomo Road, which is adjacent to Ford’s Claycomo plant.

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A Ford spokesperson said the company does not comment “on our contracts or relationships with individual suppliers.”

“We manage supplier relationships in line with our sourcing strategy, designed to enable us to best serve our customers,” the spokesperson said.

Jack Cooper Transport, founded in 1928, originally helped transport vehicles for General Motors at its Leeds Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Missouri.

The transport company’s website states Jack Cooper is one of the largest privately owned auto transport and specialized vehicle logistics providers in the United States.

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Workers are represented by Teamsters Union Local 41.

Teamster’s Union General President Sean O’Brien said last week on social media the union would “defend our members.”





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LifeSave Kansas Earns Prestigious CAMTS Accreditation

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LifeSave Kansas Earns Prestigious CAMTS Accreditation


Recognition underscores commitment to safety and clinical excellence, as demonstrated by recent long-distance transport of a special infant

LifeSave Kansas aircraft

LifeSave Kansas uses both helicopters and fixed wing airplanes to transport patients to the needed level of medical care. These aircraft function as flying ICUs.

Wichita, KS, Jan. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The LifeSave Kansas emergency air medical program is proud to announce its accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS). This accreditation affirms the program’s unwavering commitment to safety and clinical excellence over its 24 years of life-saving service to the state of Kansas.

“Our LifeSave bases in Emporia, Wichita, Liberal, and Garden City were inspected and found to meet the stringent safety and quality requirements to achieve full CAMTS accreditation,” said Kandi Sagehorn, clinical director with Air Methods, the nation’s leading air medical service provider and parent company of LifeSave Kansas. “This is an exciting accomplishment, and I am proud of the LifeSave team members and leaders who continually work to ensure each base’s compliance with the accreditation standards.”

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CAMTS accreditation indicates the program meets or exceeds rigorous standards for safety, patient care, and clinical quality. It also acknowledges organizations that implement best practices and work to continually improve performance.

“It highlights the dedication, expertise, and hard work of our entire team,” said Shannon Kilmartin, a flight nurse with LifeSave 21 in Emporia. “I’m thankful to everyone who works to maintain the rigorous standards required for this honor.”

One example of this commitment to excellence was seen last August when the fixed wing crew from LifeSave 15 in Wichita transported seven-month-old Hazel Randolph from her home in Bartlesville, OK to Palo Alto, CA for heart surgery.

When the Randolph family learned of Hazel’s severe congenital heart defect shortly after her birth, they were told she was an unlikely candidate for surgery, and she was put on hospice care. Undeterred by this diagnosis, Hazel’s mother, Loren Randolph, searched for options until she learned that doctors at Stanford University Medical Center had pioneered a specialized surgery to treat the condition.

The family flew on a commercial airplane to California for the surgery but had to cancel it when they contracted COVID. The family drove back home to Oklahoma knowing they had to find a safer way to get Hazel back to the surgeons at Stanford. Thankfully, an air medical flight was approved by their insurance provider, so she was safely flown to her surgery under the loving care of the LifeSave Kansas clinical crew.

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