TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas City Chiefs player and now businessman who has served on local and state government boards is running for the U.S. Senate in Kansas.

Dave Lindstrom, who lives in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, launched his bid for the Republican nomination with an event Thursday in Goodland in Kansas’ northwestern corner. He said he chose the site to show that agriculture is important and because he’s helped organize charity golf tournaments for the local medical center there.

Four-term GOP Sen. Pat Roberts is not seeking re-electionin 2020, and at least 15 potential candidates have expressed an interest in running, most of them Republicans. Lindstrom said supporters have encouraged him for months to consider running, pointing to his business experience. He said that and his professional football career give him a “unique background.”

“With Democrats hell-bent on unraveling President Trump’s agenda, it is critical that Republicans hold Sen. Roberts’ seat,” Lindstrom said in announcing his candidacy.

So far, only state Treasurer Jake LaTurner is actively campaigning for the GOP nomination, but potential Republican candidates include western Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall, state Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Some Republicans fear the possibility of Kobach winning the nomination because he lost the governor’s race last year to Democrat Laura Kelly. The GOP hasn’t lost a Senate race in Kansas since 1932.

Earlier this year, some top Republicans nudged U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, to enter the race. He said he was focused on his job as the nation’s top diplomat.

Kelly Arnold, a former Kansas Republican Party chairman, said the GOP has multiple potential candidates who would make good nominees, but many of them need to jump into the race quickly.

“Some candidates are going to need to start fundraising soon,” Arnold said.

Lindstrom, 64, played professional football as a defensive end. He was with the Chiefs for eight years. He retired in 1986.

He worked in real estate and as a developer and owned and operated four Kansas City-area Burger King franchises.

Lindstrom also served on the Johnson County Commission and is an elected trustee for Johnson County Community College. He is chairman of the nonprofit Kansas Leadership Center’s board in Wichita and chairman of the Kansas Turnpike Authority, which oversees the state’s toll road.

He ran for lieutenant governor in 2002 with then-state Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, who lost the general election to Democrat Kathleen Sebelius.

Lindstrom said he’s entering the Senate race partly because he’s concerned about what he sees as a growing embrace of socialism and “I think our country’s under attack.”

“People are making promises with other people’s money and resources that they cannot keep, that they understand are not sustainable — that will create an environment in this country, of one of entitlement, as opposed to hard work,” he said during an Associated Press interview before launching his campaign. “That’s what I mean when I talk about socialism.”

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas City Chiefs player and now businessman who has served on local and state government boards is running for the U.S. Senate in Kansas.

Dave Lindstrom, who lives in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, planned to launch his bid for the Republican nomination with an event Thursday in Goodland in Kansas’ northwestern corner. He said he chose the site to show that agriculture is important and because he’s helped organize charity golf tournaments for the local medical center there.

Four-term GOP Sen. Pat Roberts is not seeking re-electionin 2020, and at least 15 potential candidates have expressed an interest in running, most of them Republicans. Lindstrom said supporters have encouraged him for months to consider running, pointing to his business background.

“I’ve signed both the front and back of checks,” he said during an Associated Press interview before launching his campaign. “I would be an outsider.”

So far, only state Treasurer Jake LaTurner is actively campaigning for the GOP nomination, but potential Republican candidates include western Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall, state Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Some Republicans fear Kobach winning the nomination because he lost the governor’s race last year to Democrat Laura Kelly. The GOP hasn’t lost a Senate race in Kansas since 1932.

Earlier this year, some top Republicans nudged U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, to enter the race. He said he was focused on his job as the nation’s top diplomat.

Kelly Arnold, a former Kansas Republican Party chairman, said the GOP has multiple potential candidates who would make good nominees, but many of them need to jump into the race quickly.

“Some candidates are going to need to start fundraising soon,” Arnold said.

Lindstrom, 64, played professional football as a defensive end. He was with the Chiefs for eight years. He retired in 1986.

He worked in real estate and as a developer and owned and operated four Kansas City-area Burger King franchises.

Lindstrom also served on the Johnson County Commission and is an elected trustee for Johnson County Community College. He is chairman of the nonprofit Kansas Leadership Center’s board in Wichita and chairman of the Kansas Turnpike Authority, which oversees the state’s toll road.

He ran for lieutenant governor in 2002 with then-state Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, who lost the general election to Democrat Kathleen Sebelius.

Lindstrom said he’s entering the Senate race partly because he’s concerned about what he sees as a growing embrace of socialism and “I think our country’s under attack.”

“People are making promises with other people’s money and resources that they cannot keep, that they understand are not sustainable — that will create an environment in this country, of one of entitlement, as opposed to hard work,” he said. “That’s what I mean when I talk about socialism.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Supreme Court and the 2020 census (all times local):

1:50 p.m.

President Donald Trump is suggesting the census be delayed indefinitely as he blasts a Supreme Court decision putting a hold on his administration’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

…..United States Supreme Court is given additional information from which it can make a final and decisive decision on this very critical matter. Can anyone really believe that as a great Country, we are not able the ask whether or not someone is a Citizen. Only in America!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019

Trump tweeted Thursday that it “Seems totally ridiculous that our government, and indeed Country, cannot ask a basic question of Citizenship in a very expensive, detailed and important Census.”

And he says he has asked government lawyers if they can delay the Constitutionally-mandated Census, “no matter how long” until the Supreme Court is given additional information “from which it can make a final and decisive decision.”

Federal law states the census must begin April 1.

The high court on Thursday maintained a hold on the administration’s efforts to add the citizenship question. Opponents say there’s no time to revisit the issue before next week’s start to the printing of census forms.

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Noon

The Supreme Court has put a hold on the Trump administration’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, leaving it unclear whether the question will ultimately appear on the form that’s supposed to start printing next week.

The Census Bureau’s own experts predict that millions of Hispanics and immigrants would go uncounted if the census asked everyone if he or she is an American citizen. And immigrant advocacy organizations and Democratic-led states, cities and counties argue the citizenship question is intended to discourage the participation of minorities, primarily Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats, from filling out census forms.

They argued to the Supreme Court they would get less federal money and fewer seats in Congress if the census asks about citizenship because people with noncitizens in their households would be less likely to fill out their census forms.

10:45 a.m.

The Supreme Court is forbidding President Donald Trump’s administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census for now. The court says the Trump administration’s explanation for wanting to add the question was “more of a distraction” than an explanation.

It’s unclear whether the administration would have time to provide a fuller account. Census forms are supposed to be printed beginning next week.

The court ruled 5-4 on Thursday, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the four liberals in the relevant part of the outcome.

A lower court found the administration violated federal law in the way it tried to add a question broadly asking about citizenship for the first time since 1950.

The Census Bureau’s own experts have predicted that millions of Hispanics and immigrants would go uncounted if the census asked everyone if he or she is an American citizen.

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SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man on child sex allegations.

After an investigation that lasted a couple of weeks, deputies arrested Christopher L. Moody, 35, Lincoln, on Wednesday at his place of employment in Salina, according to Lt. Mike Ascher.

He is accused of inappropriate sexual contact with an 11-year-old rural Saline County girl.

Moody is being held on requested charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated intimidation of a witness.

Moody is an acquaintance of the girl’s family, according to Ascher.

FORD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects after a southwest Kansas traffic stop.

Just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, a deputy conducted a traffic stop on U.S. 54 just east of Bucklin, according to a media release. During the interaction with the driver, the K-9 deputy smelled the odor of raw marijuana.

During a search, the deputy found 80 cellophane-wrapped packages of crystal meth hidden strategically throughout the vehicle and a small amount of marijuana, according to the release.

The estimated value of the suspected methamphetamine is $1.2 million.

Deputies arrested as 30-year-old Nelson Alvarez-Castillo and 24-year-old Anthony Yapul both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.