In the News

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said Wednesday in Kansas that he expects continued job growth nationwide, even as the Federal Reserve takes aggressive steps to reduce inflation.

Walsh's comments came at a stop in Edgerton alongside Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids as she faces a tough reelection bid against Republican Amanda Adkins, a former Cerner executive, in the Kansas 3rd Congressional District.

Representative Sharice Davids hosted U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh during a Wednesday visit to Johnson County Community College's Commercial Driver's License training program.

Davids and Walsh spoke with students and faculty on how the federal government can address supply chain challenges and workforce needs. The Department of Labor helps fund certain JCCC CDL students as they progress through Workforce Partnership.

Isabella Casillas Guzman, the Small Business Administrator for the U.S., visited Olathe-based Mid-State Aerospace, Inc., on Thursday.

The company, at 710 N Lindenwood Dr. in east Olathe, manufactures aviation parts. It works with major companies — like Boeing and Lockheed Martin — and sells on the international marketplace as well. It also has a number of federal government contracts, including with NASA.

Congresswoman Sharice Davids shared with students some ways that she's overcome self-doubt, what advice she'd give her younger self, her hopes for the future and more during a visit to Haskell Indian Nations University Friday.

Davids' visit was part of a TRiO Speaker Series. TRiO is a federal student service program designed to support the academic achievement of disadvantaged students.

For the last couple of years, a Kansas City, Kansas, man has been trying to replace the medals he had earned for his military service.

Frank Parra is a Vietnam War veteran. He was decorated several times for heroism under fire. But over the years, he lost track of those medals.

He never lost track of what happened. One incident made the news.

As a helicopter crew chief, his pilot saw a civilian bus hit a land mine. They landed. Parra was the first one out.

Frank Parra accepted a shadowbox filled with service accommodations Friday afternoon with a roar of excitement from his family, who crammed into a small congressional office in Overland Park.

"Some of these I didn't even know existed," Parra said, as Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids handed over the black box with colorful medals inside.

Parra said he tried for about a year-and-a-half to recover his missing medals, but eventually called the representative's office for help.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., took several actions recently to curb the growing threat of fentanyl, the number one cause of overdose death in the United States.

In August, Rep. Davids held a summit with local, state, and federal law enforcement on the challenges they face handling the fentanyl epidemic. The actions announced this week are a direct response to what she learned during that conversation.

Action in Washington, D.C. could help address the fentanyl crisis here in the Kansas City metro. KMBC 9 looked at the steps being taken and how one local police chief says it would help his department save lives.

"You put it in your nasal and punch it. Very simple to use," said Kansas City, Kansas Police Chief Karl Oakman as he held a small cartridge wrapped in plastic.

Inside was naloxone, or Narcan, an opioid antidote. It's a simple tool to address a complex crisis.

"I've talked to too many fathers and mothers who have lost good kids," Oakman said.