Kansas is grappling with what state health officials say is one of the largest tuberculosis outbreaks there since the 1950s, one that has infected dozens of people.

The epicenter of the outbreak, which began last January and was blamed for two deaths in 2024, is in Wyandotte and Johnson counties, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Both are part of the Kansas City, Kans., metropolitan area in the eastern part of the state.

It is unclear what caused the outbreak, and state health officials did not immediately respond to questions about the origin.

While the state’s health agency described the risk to the general public as “very low,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had four employees on-site in Kansas as of Tuesday to help with contact investigation, testing and screening, a spokesperson for the center said in an email. The team was also coordinating with community leaders to educate the public about tuberculosis, an infectious disease that is caused by bacteria and most often affects the lungs.

“This outbreak is still ongoing, which means that there could be more cases,” Jill Bronaugh, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, wrote in an email Tuesday.

Trump fires two labor board members

President Donald Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners of the federal agency that enforces civil rights law in the workplace, an unprecedented move aimed at implementing his crackdown on certain diversity and gender rights policies.

The two commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, confirmed in statements Tuesday that they were fired late Monday night. Both said they were exploring options to challenge their dismissals, calling their removal before the expiration of their five-year terms an unprecedented decision that undermines the agency’s independence.

In a similar move, National Labor Relations Board member Gynne A. Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo were also fired late last night, the agency confirmed. Wilcox was the first Black woman to serve on the Board since its inception in 1935, according to the NLRB website. The U.S. president appoints the commissioners and the Senate confirms them, but their terms are staggered and are meant to overlap presidential terms to help ensure the agency’s independence.

The two firings leave the agency with one Republican commissioner, Andrea Lucas, who Trump appointed acting EEOC chair last week, one Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, and three vacancies that Trump can fill. Another Republican commissioner, Keith Sonderling, resigned after Trump appointed him Deputy Secretary of Labor.

Transgender service members seek redress

Six transgender active duty service members and two former service members who seek re-enlistment on Tuesday filed the first lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that calls for revising policy on transgender troops and probably sets the stage for banning them in the armed forces.

Trump’s order, signed Monday, claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle” and is harmful to military readiness. It requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue a revised policy.

Army Capt. Gordon Herrero, one of the six active duty plaintiffs, said in a statement accompanying the lawsuit: “There’s nothing about being transgender that makes me better or worse than any other soldier I serve alongside. We are all here because we are committed to our country, and we are passionate, willing, and able to serve effectively.”

The six plaintiffs include a Sailor of the Year honoree, a Bronze Star recipient and several who were awarded meritorious service medals.

Vt. shooting suspect has further Calif. ties

A man accused of murder in California appears to have sought a marriage license with a woman charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Vermont.

The woman, Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Washington state, faces two weapons charges in connection with the Jan. 20 death of 44-year-old Border Patrol Agent David Maland.

Maland was a Minnesota native.

A prosecution motion seeking Youngblut’s detention Monday says she was in frequent contact with someone who is a person of interest in a homicide investigation in Vallejo, Calif.

Court records show that Maximilian Snyder, 22, was arrested by Vallejo police on Friday and charged Monday with murder. An attorney was not listed for Snyder.

In November, individuals identified as Teresa Youngblut and Maximilian Snyder took out a marriage license, according to a records search in Washington state’s King County.

Serbian PM resigns amid growing protests

Serbia’s populist prime minister, Milos Vucevic, resigned Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions stoked by weeks of massive anti-corruption protests that started after the deadly collapse of a concrete overhang at a recently renovated train station.

The November collapse at the central station in Novi Sad, one of Serbia’s largest cities, killed 15 people and happened months after it reopened, fueling accusations that the construction was unsafe. The tragedy has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s authoritarian rule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the graft-plagued country that has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies..

The protests, including one Tuesday evening in Novi Sad that drew thousands of people, have spread to streets and university campuses throughout the country of roughly 6.6 million people, as citizens from all walks of life, including actors, farmers, lawyers and judges, have thrown their support behind the student movement that has rattled the country’s most powerful figure, President Aleksandar Vucic.

North Korea leader calls for more nukes

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected a facility that produces nuclear material and called for bolstering the country’s nuclear capability, state media reported Wednesday, as it ramps up pressure on the U.S. following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim’s moves suggest a continued emphasis on an expansion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, though Trump has said he’s willing to talk to Kim again to revive diplomacy.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim visited the nuclear-material production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute.

It didn’t say where those facilities are located, but North Korean photos of Kim’s visit indicated that he likely visited a uranium-enrichment facility that he went to last September. That visit was North Korea’s first disclosure of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one to visiting American scholars in 2010.

At Louvre, Mona Lisa to get a room of her own

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that the “Mona Lisa” will get its own dedicated room inside the Louvre museum under a major renovation and expansion of the Paris landmark that will take up to a decade.

The renovation project, branded “Louvre New Renaissance,” will include a wide new entrance near the Seine River, to be opened by 2031, Macron said in a speech from the room where Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is displayed.

Macron didn’t disclose an exact amount budgeted for the project to modernize the world’s most visited museum, which is plagued with overcrowding and outdated facilities. But it’s estimated to reach up to 800 million euros ($834 million).

The Louvre’s last overhaul dates back to the 1980s, when the iconic glass pyramid was unveiled.

— From news services