Articles by Heather Hollingsworth

Medical Boards Under Pressure to Discipline Doctors Pushing False Covid-19 Claims

They have decried COVID-19 as a hoax, promoted unproven treatments and pushed bogus claims about the vaccine, including that the shots magnetize the human body. The purveyors of this misinformation are not shadowy figures operating in the dark corners of …

Health Workers On Front Lines Once Saluted as Heroes Now Face Hostility

More than a year after U.S. health care workers on the front lines against COVID-19 were saluted as heroes with nightly clapping from windows and balconies, some are being issued panic buttons in case of assault and ditching their scrubs …

Kansas Governor Wants Statewide Mask Mandate

Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is again calling for a statewide mask mandate as the coronavirus case count continues to climb in rural parts of the state that don’t require them. Kelly said that two-thirds of the state’s COVID-19 cases …

Kansas Sausage Making Plant with COVID-19 Cases Shuts Down

A Kansas plant that makes sausage shut down on May 13 after employees tested positive for the coronavirus, and an outbreak that has infected hundreds at the state’s largest prison claimed the life of another worker. The shutdown at the …

Owner of Missouri Duck Boat Settles Final Lawsuit Over Deadly Sinking

The owner of a tourist duck boat that sank in a Missouri lake, killing 17 people, has settled its final pending lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. Thirty-one lawsuits have been filed against Ripley Entertainment since the former World War II …

2 More Workers Indicted in Missouri Duck Boat Sinking That Killed 17

A federal grand jury has indicted two more employees of a company that owns a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake last summer, killing 17 people. Curtis Lanham, the general manager at Ride the Ducks Branson, and Charles …

Schlitterbahn Water Park Where Kansas Boy Died Appears Unlikely to Open

A Kansas water park where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated isn’t hiring lifeguards, advertising or selling tickets with less than a month left before its typical Memorial Day weekend opening date, underlining speculation that it could be put up for …

4 Die in Midwest Flooding; Roads Closed, Levees Strained

The latest round of Midwestern flooding claimed at least four lives, closed hundreds of roads and forced residents of river towns to shore up threatened levees with sandbags as waters rose to and near record levels in some communities. The …

Company in Fatal Missouri Sinking Stops 2019 Duck Boat Operations

The company that owns a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake last summer, killing 17 people, announced that it won’t operate the vessels this year because of the ongoing investigation and will instead open a replacement attraction in …

2 Kansas Firms Indicted Over Noxious Chemical Release at Distilling Plant

Two companies have been indicted on federal charges after a mistake at a northeast Kansas distilling plant in 2016 released a noxious cloud of fumes that prosecutors say caused more than 140 people to seek medical treatment. The three-count indictment …