I love to celebrate, and it is always fun to come up with new ways to mark special occasions. Everyone should have a birthday cake on their birthday, but for that faraway friend or family member, sometimes a homemade cake just isn’t in the cards -- until now!

Dear Annie: When the time comes -- hopefully I pass before my loving husband and faithful partner of nearly 25 years, but if not -- I could use a few words of advice as to how to deal with my estranged step-daughter, her bitter mother (both vultures) and her young children who I’ve never met due to an unresolved falling out many years ago. I just know that if my husband were to pass first that there will be drama beyond words.

Many a Kansas girl grows up dreaming of living on the prairie like Kansas heroine Laura Ingalls Wilder. Living close to where Laura lived, that dream is a little closer for those that live in Independence and Montgomery County.

(TNS) Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin pledged to intensify cooperation against U.S. “containment” of their countries, as they warned of growing nuclear tensions between rival powers.

- BATTERY May 16- IPD Officers responded to the 600 Block of West Maple Street for a report of a disturbance. After an investigation, Johnny Bowers, 44 of Independence, was arrested for domestic battery.

OPEN ARMS DINER The Open Arms Diner will open Tuesday, May 21 at 5:00 p.m. at the First Christian Church in Independence.

■ Gov. Laura Kelly uses lineitem veto to eliminate earmark for ZeroEyes firearm detection software Gov.

A session-long standoff between Gov. Laura Kelly and state legislators over changes in tax policy reached its inevitable climax Thursday when the governor vetoed a bipartisan tax plan as promised.

President Joe Biden is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education this week while recognizing that the full potential of the decision “remains unfulfilled.”

(TNS) A Houston woman died Thursday evening after she tried to move her car to avoid it getting damaged ahead of the storm, according to Houston police. The accident happened at about 6:30 p.m.