WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. warship on Thursday destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it threatened the ship, President Donald Trump said. The incident marked a new escalation of tensions between the countries less than one month after Iran downed an American drone in the same waterway and Trump came close to retaliating with a military strike.

In remarks at the White House, Trump blamed Iran for a “provocative and hostile” action and said the U.S. responded in self-defense. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told reporters as he arrived for a meeting at the United Nations that “we have no information about losing a drone today.”

Trump said the Navy’s USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, took defensive action after the Iranian aircraft closed to within 1,000 yards of the ship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.

“The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities and interests and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran’s attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce,” Trump said.

The Pentagon said the incident happened at 10 a.m. local time Thursday in international waters while the Boxer was transiting the waterway to enter the Persian Gulf. The Boxer is among several U.S. Navy ships in the area, including the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been operating in the nearby North Arabian Sea for weeks.

“A fixed-wing unmanned aerial system approached Boxer and closed within a threatening range,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a written statement. “The ship took defensive action against the UAS to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew.”

The Iranians and Americans have had close encounters in the Strait of Hormuz in the past, and it’s not unprecedented for Iran to fly a drone near a U.S. warship.

In December, about 30 Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels trailed the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and its strike group through the strait as Associated Press journalists on board watched. One small vessel launched what appeared to be a commercial-grade drone to film the U.S. ships.

Other transits have seen the Iranians fire rockets away from American warships or test-fire their machine guns. The Guard’s small fast boats often cut in front of the massive carriers, running dangerously close to running into them in “swarm attacks.” The Guard boats are often armed with bomb-carrying drones and sea-to-sea and surface-to-sea missiles.

Thursday’s incident was the latest in a series of events that raised U.S.-Iran tensions since early May when Washington accused Tehran of threatening U.S. forces and interests in Iraq and in the Gulf. In response, the U.S. accelerated the deployment of the Lincoln and its strike group to the Arabian Sea and deployed four B-52 long-range bombers to the Gulf state of Qatar. It has since deployed additional Patriot air defense missile batteries in the Gulf region.

Shortly after Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone aircraft on June 20, Trump ordered a retaliatory military strike but called it off at the last moment, saying the risk of casualties was disproportionate to the downing by Iran, which did not cost any U.S. lives.

I want to apprise everyone of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz today, involving #USSBoxer, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship. The BOXER took defensive action against an Iranian drone…. pic.twitter.com/Zql6nAUGxF

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2019

Iran claimed the U.S. drone violated its airspace; the Pentagon denied this.

Zarif said Thursday that Iran and the U.S. were only “a few minutes away from a war” after Iran downed the American drone. He spoke to U.S.-based media on the sidelines of a visit to the United Nations.

Zarif also blamed Washington for the escalation of tensions.

“We live in a very dangerous environment,” he said. “The United States has pushed itself and the rest of the world into probably the brink of an abyss.” Zarif accused the Trump administration of “trying to starve our people” and “deplete our treasury” through economic sanctions.

Earlier Thursday, Iran said its Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign oil tanker and its crew of 12 for smuggling fuel out of the country, and hours later released video showing the vessel to be a United Arab Emirates-based ship that had vanished in Iranian waters over the weekend.

The announcement cleared up the fate of the missing ship but raised a host of other questions and heightened worries about the free flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical petroleum shipping routes. One-fifth of global crude exports passes through the strait.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says a U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

Trump says it’s the latest “hostile” action by Iran. He’s calling on other countries to condemn what he says are Iran’s attempts to disrupt the freedom of navigation and global commerce in the strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf region.

President Trump Participates in a Flag Presentation Ceremony https://t.co/DYgkDCdO3x

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 18, 2019

Trump says the USS Boxer took defensive action after the drone closed to within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.

The president says the drone threatened the safety of the American ship and its crew.

Iran recently shot down a U.S. drone that it said was flying over Iran. Trump called off a planned retaliatory airstrike at the last minute.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigated a report of shots fired late Wednesday and early Thursday in the in the Redbud Estates manufactured home community in Riley County.

Just before 9:10 p.m., the Riley County Emergency Dispatch Center began receiving several calls reporting shots fired in the 2500 block of Farm Bureau Road.

When officers arrived on scene, they attempted to make contact with a 35-year-old male inside a residence where the shots were reportedly coming from.

As a precaution, people in the area were advised to shelter in place or evacuate depending on their proximity to the home.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigated a report of shots fired late Wednesday and early Thursday in the 2500 block of Farm Bureau Road in the Redbud Estates manufactured home community in Riley County.

The Riley County Police Department asked the public to stay away from the area while they investigated and later reported they took no actual enforcement activity

The RCPD released no additional information early Thursday morning. Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

TOPEKA — Kansas schools will require two new vaccines come August, including one against a virus that’s hospitalized 13,000 people and killed 200 across the country since 2016.

The new rules, which apply to public and private schools, will be phased in over the next several years. But come August, schools will check that:

• Kindergartners and first-graders have gotten hepatitis A vaccine.
• Seventh-graders have had their first dose of a MenACWY, a vaccine against four types of meningococcal bacteria.
• 11th-graders get a dose of MenACWY, too (even students who received a first dose when they were younger will need a booster dose).

Kansas allows exemptions for medical and religious reasons, but not philosophical reasons.

Nationally, 25 states have seen more than 20,000 cases of hepatitis A in widespread outbreaks since 2016.

The liver infection often spreads through contamination in water, raw or undercooked foods or through sex.

Kansas hasn’t seen any recent cases, though its neighbors have. More than 300 in Missouri and nearly 100 in Colorado have gotten sick.

Read about the known side effects of specific vaccines here. No evidence links vaccines to autism, a myth that got its start with a debunked academic article.  Read Autism Speaks’ FAQ page on what does and doesn’t cause autism here.

Most people shake off hepatitis A in a matter of weeks, the federal Centers for Disease Control say. But others fight the illness for months, suffering from things like diarrhea, fatigue, vomiting, fever, jaundice and stomach pain.

Last month, the federal panel of health experts that sets vaccine guidelines recommended children and teens who missed the hepatitis A shots as toddlers get them now. In Kansas, federal data suggest more than 85% of children receive it as toddlers, in part because it was already required for day care.

Fewer Kansans get the MenACWY vaccine. Meningococcal bacteria cause, among other things, meningitis.

Outbreaks are rare but nearly a third of patients die, lose limbs or sustain long-term brain damage.

People living in close quarters, such as college dorms, are at higher risk of contracting meningococcal disease.

 Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health and education for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @Celia_LJ or email her at celia (at) kcur (dot) org. 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas priest has been charged with one count of possessing child pornography.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, said in a news release Thursday that it reported Christopher Rossman to authorities in September 2016 after learning he had accessed inappropriate content on his computer. Rossman was suspended from the ministry at that time.

The archdiocese said it received information that an FBI investigation resulted in the charge being filed.

At the time, Rossman was pastor at Roman Catholic churches in Baldwin City and Lapeer. He previously worked at churches in Olathe, Topeka, Holton, Mayetta and Potawatomi Reservation.

The Kansas City Star reports Rossman’s attorney, Scott Toth, said it was too early to comment on the case.

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The story has been corrected after the Pawnee County Attorney sent incorrect information.

PAWNEE COUNTY— A Kansas man has been found not guilty of burglary in Pawnee County.

On Wednesday a Pawnee County District Court jury heard testimony that on August 26, 2018, while checking cattle on leased property in northern Pawnee County a farmer noticed the chain leading back into the property had been cut, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered the locks securing the barn, a trailer house and an RV located on the property had been broken.  The Pawnee County Sheriff was then called to the scene.

Later the same afternoon, the defendant 49-year-old Harold Mason was stopped and arrested in Barton County on local charges.

Shayla Richmeier, 28, and Eric Reed, 47, both of Great Bend were also arrested at the time.  A search of his vehicle located items from the Pawnee County Burglary, a faucet still in the original box with the victim’s name on the shipping label and various boy scout memorabilia.  At the time, the defendant told a Barton County Detective he’d purchased the faucet and did not know how the other items ended up in vehicle.  None of the other items reported stolen have been recovered.

Mason did not testify in his own defense, nor did he present any witnesses.

The jury made up of 7 women and 5 men deliberated for approximately 80 minutes before returning a Not Guilty verdict.

In March, the co-defendant, Richmeier, entered a No Contest plea to an amended charge of Criminal Trespass.  The State agreed to dismiss similar charges against Reed prior to Preliminary Hearing, according to McNett.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House easily killed a maverick Democrat’s effort Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for his recent racial insults against lawmakers of color , a vote that provided an early snapshot of just how divided Democrats are over ousting him as the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns rev up.

The Democrats talk big on impeachment, but less than half vote for it. Hypocrisy.

I think @realDonaldTrump Derangement Syndrome will be in DSM-6. 🚑🏨 https://t.co/8ZUbLZN0t4

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) July 17, 2019

Democrats leaned against the resolution by Texas Rep. Al Greenby 137-95. That showed that so far, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has successfully prevented a Democratic stampede toward impeachment before additional evidence is developed that could win over a public that’s so far skeptical about ousting Trump.

Even so, the roll call underscored that the number of liberal Democrats open to impeachment remains substantial and may be growing. About two dozen more conversions would split the party’s 235-member caucus in half over an issue that could potentially dominate next year’s elections. Until now, just over 80 Democrats had publicly said they were open to starting an inquiry over removing Trump.

“There’s a lot of grief, from a lot of different quarters,” Green, speaking to reporters after the vote, said of the reaction he received from colleagues. “But sometimes you just have to take a stand.”

Democrats voting in favor of the impeachment resolution included some of the party’s most outspoken freshmen, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, but were mostly veteran liberals, including leaders of House Democrats’ black, Hispanic and progressive caucuses. With party leaders looking to give the effort as little oxygen as possible, there was no debate.

As some Democrats feared, the measure’s lopsided 332-95 defeat — the House’s first vote on removing Trump since Democrats took control of the chamber this year — opened the door for him to claim vindication.

“You see the overwhelming vote against impeachment and that’s the end of it,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in North Carolina for a campaign rally. He called the effort the “most ridiculous project I’ve ever been involved in.”

Green’s resolution didn’t mention special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia to influence that year’s congressional election or whether the president obstructed Mueller’s probe. That inquiry and the questions it raised over Trump’s actions have been the main reasons some Democrats have backed impeachment.

Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that six House committees are investigating Trump, adding, “That is the serious path we’re on.”

Mueller is scheduled to testify next week to two House committees.

Democrats rejected Trump’s claim that the vote showed he’d been absolved of anything.

“It’s not vindication,” said Rep. Donna Shalala, D-Fla. “It’s that we believe in an orderly process. We’re putting our faith in the Judiciary Committee and the hearing they’re going to hold.”

Every voting Republican favored derailing Green’s measure.

With Democrats preparing to defend their House majority in next year’s elections, Green’s measure forced those in tight districts to choose between upsetting liberals eager to remove Trump and moderates leery of that. Democrats owe their House majority to 39 challengers who won in 2018 in what had been GOP-held districts, places where centrist constituents often predominate.

“It’s not ideal for a lot of people to have to take that vote right now,” one of them, Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., said of impeachment. She said “if and when” the House votes on impeaching Trump, it should happen when “we can make sure our constituents understand and can get behind” the move.

Recent polling has shown solid majorities of the public oppose impeachment. Even if the Democratic-run House would vote to impeach Trump, the equivalent of filing formal charges, a trial by the Republican-led Senate would all but certainly acquit him, keeping him in office.

Trump is “unfit to be President, unfit to represent the American values of decency and morality, respectability and civility, honesty and propriety, reputability and integrity, is unfit to defend the ideals that have made America great, unfit to defend liberty and justice for all,” Green’s resolution said.

The measure cites Trump’s recent “racist” comments imploring Democratic congresswomen of color to go back to their native countries. The House voted Tuesday largely along party lines to condemn those statements . His targets were Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

All are American and all but Omar were born in the U.S. They’ve also been among the party’s most outspoken advocates of impeachment, and all backed Green’s measure.

Mueller’s 448-page report detailed episodes in which Trump tried to influence his investigation. Mueller said he could not exonerate Trump on obstruction and indicated in a May news conference that it was up to Congress to decide what to do.

Some Democrats are frustrated with the slow pace of their party’s investigations of the president, and impeachment supporters say it would accelerate House probes and bolster their arguments in court. The White House has blocked several witnesses from answering questions.

Efforts by party leaders to dissuade Green from forcing the divisive roll call fell flat, as they did when he forced votes on similar impeachment resolutions in 2017 and 2018.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas chapter of a Muslim civil rights group is calling for the resignation of an Independence, Missouri, city councilman who said during a meeting that Middle Eastern owners of discount smoke shops will “sell anything out the back door.”

Councilman Curt Dougherty made the comment Monday while discussing a proposal to regulate medical marijuana facilities in Independence. He was arguing that the city had rules restricting several types of businesses, including smoke shops run mostly by Middle Easterners.

Dougherty did not immediately respond to an email or phone message seeking comment.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson Correctional Facility inmate was taken to a Wichita hospital after he fell while working on the Kansas State Fairgrounds.

Christopher Boothby, 38, was on some type of hydraulic lift working on a flag pole when he fell about 15 feet and hit his head, according to Hutchinson Police.

He was first taken to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center then transported to Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita.

He has been at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility since March after a move from the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

DE SOTO, Kan. (AP) — The superintendent of a suburban Kansas City school district says he wasn’t aware that a school nurse who’s charged with two counts of unlawful sexual relations with a minor had faced similar accusations at a previous job.

De Soto, Kansas, Superintendent Frank Harwood said Tuesday that Richard Finazzo wouldn’t have been hired if the district “had any idea” of the suspicions. Charging documents say Finazzo resigned from De Soto High School in October while under suspicion for the same conduct that led to his firing two years ago from the nearby Gardner-Edgerton High School.

Prosecutors say Finazzo has claimed he was the victim of a “double standard” that wouldn’t apply to female nurses. The Gardner-Edgerton district didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from The Star or The Associated Press.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 10-year-old girl in Springfield. The search for Hailey Owens prompted a state-wide Amber Alert in Kansas and Missouri.

The court ruled Tuesday that the decisions of the trial court judge in Craig Wood’s case were appropriate and that the death sentence wasn’t disproportionate.

At issue was that jurors who convicted Wood of first-degree murder in the 2014 death of Owens couldn’t decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without parole. That left the decision in the hands of the judge who oversaw Wood’s trial.

Missouri and Indiana are the only states where a judge can impose a death sentence. Other states follow the federal procedure that a defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment if jurors deadlock.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence city leaders have voted to require some bar and restaurant workers to get sexual violence intervention training.

The city commission adopted an ordinance Tuesday requiring the training as a requirement for the establishments to keep their local liquor licenses.

The ordinance requires training for on-site managers. Both the city-issued license and a state liquor license are required to serve alcoholic beverages.

Businesses where alcohol is not consumed, such as liquor and grocery stores, are exempt.

Several bar owners asked for the city to reconsider the ordinance, saying they were concerned that intervening in harassment situations could create liability for a bar owner and that it might hurt some bars financially.

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A black couple who filed separate discrimination lawsuits against Emporia State University won one lawsuit while the other was dismissed.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday the university retaliated against Angelica Hale by not renewing her contract after she complained about racial discrimination during the 2014-2015 school year. A jury on Monday dismissed her husband Melvin’s $10 million lawsuit against five university administrators.

The couple worked at Emporia State’s School of Library and Information Management. They alleged their employment ended after they found a racial slur written in a notebook and pushed for an investigation.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree awarded Angelica Hale damages of $1 and said she may recover her costs. She also will be allowed to submit a brief concerning whether front pay, reinstatement and back pay are appropriate.

BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — One year after 17 people died when a boat sank on a Missouri lake near the tourist town of Branson, the question of whether the boats should return to the lake remains a topic of debate.

Former Branson Mayor Karen Best had to inform the 17 victims’ families that they had died when the boat sank during a storm on July 19, 2018, on Table Rock Lake. She said she will never forget the cries and screaming of the families and survivors.

“I don’t know that they need to come back to this community,” Best said about the duck boats.

The amphibious vehicles, which operated on land and water, were a popular attraction in Branson for nearly 50 years. They are not operating this year, and Ripley Entertainment, which owns Branson Ride The Ducks, has not said whether they will return, The Kansas City Star reported .

The current mayor, Edd Akers, who was elected in April, said it’s possible the duck boats could return to Branson if they are altered and have improved safety features.

“They’re still operating in other parts of the country,” he said. “They are still successful in different areas. You know, if they are meant to come back and are supposed to come back, I think it could.”

Akers acknowledged that the boats are still a sensitive topic after the tragedy.

“I just want you to know that people are still hurting here,” he said.

Thirty-one people were aboard when the duck boat entered the lake. A storm came up suddenly and the waves swamped the boat before it could make it back to shore. Fourteen people survived.

Some witnesses aboard the Showboat Branson Belle and first responders who tried to save people have struggled with emotional and psychological scars left from the tragedy.

“I have good friends who were on the showboat, either working there or saw the tragedy take place,” Akers said. “Start talking to them and their eyes water because they saw things that they don’t like to remember.”

Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader recalled “utter chaos” at the scene and being told 31 people were aboard the boat but not being able to see many survivors.

“In almost 30 years of law enforcement, that was probably one of the most traumatic events I have been involved in,” He said. ” . I had a deputy on there (the Belle) who jumped in and helped save people and dragged the deceased out of the water. He’ll forever be affected by that. The emotional impact it made on everyone in this area, that tragedy will never be forgotten.”

Tia Coleman, of Indianapolis, lost her husband, three children and five other relatives in the sinking. She said in a statement Tuesday that she draws energy from the memory of her family as she continues her fight to ban “dangerous, death trap duck boats like the one that killed my family and the others.”

Interviews with tourists visiting Branson recently found they were also split on whether the boats should return. Some said the attraction should open again because the sinking was a freak accident caused by a storm that came up to quickly or bad judgment by the operators. Others said they would never consider riding the boats, even if they were altered or improved.

Court filings by Ripley Entertainment this month show that 19 of 33 others who have filed claims against the company have already settled. Three duck boat employees, including the captain, Kenneth Scott McKee, 52, face criminal prosecution.

Akers said that once all the lawsuits are settled, he will propose that the city create a memorial to the duck boat victims.

“I want a peaceful, reverent place,” the mayor said, “close to the lake where families of those lost family members, or those who were affected by the tragedy, could come and pay their respects. That would, to me, be the ideal way to honor those folks.”