YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — On a dirt road past rows of date trees, just feet from a dry section of Colorado River, a small construction crew is putting up a towering border wall that the government hopes will reduce — for good — the flow of immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Cicadas buzz and heavy equipment rumbles and beeps before it lowers 30-foot-tall sections of fence into the dirt. “Ahí está!” — “There it is!” — a Spanish-speaking member of the crew says as the men straighten the sections into the ground. Nearby, workers pull dates from palm trees, not far from the cotton fields that cars pass on the drive to the border.

South of Yuma, Arizona, the tall brown bollards rising against a cloudless desert sky will replace much shorter barriers that are meant to keep out cars, but not people.

This 5-mile (8-kilometer) section of fencing is where President Donald Trump’s most salient campaign promise — to build a wall along the entire southern border — is taking shape.

The president and his administration said this week that they plan on building between 450 and 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,218-kilometer) border by the end of 2020, an ambitious undertaking funded by billions of defense dollars that had been earmarked for things like military base schools, target ranges and maintenance facilities.

Two other Pentagon-funded construction projects in New Mexico and Arizona are underway, but some are skeptical that so many miles of wall can be built in such a short amount of time. The government is up against last-minute construction hiccups, funding issues and legal challenges from environmentalists and property owners whose land sits on the border.

The Trump administration says the wall — along with more surveillance technology, agents and lighting — is key to keeping out people who cross illegally.

Critics say a wall is useless when most of those apprehended turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents in the hope they can be eventually released while their cases play out in immigration court.

In Yuma, the defense-funded section of tall fencing is replacing shorter barriers that U.S. officials say are less efficient.

It comes amid a steep increase since last year in the number of migrant families who cross the border illegally in the Yuma area, often turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents. Many are fleeing extreme poverty and violence, and some are seeking asylum.

So far this year, Border Patrol agents in the Yuma sector have apprehended over 51,000 family units. That’s compared with just over 14,500 the year before — about a 250% increase.

The Yuma sector is the third busiest along the southern border, with officials building a temporary, 500-person tent facility in the parking lot of the Border Patrol’s Yuma headquarters in June.

It spent just under $15 million for the setup and services for four months, including meals, laundry and security, but officials are evaluating whether to keep it running past next month as the number of arrivals in Yuma and across the southern border have fallen sharply in recent months.

The drop is largely due to the Mexican government’s efforts to stop migrants from heading north after Trump threatened tariffs earlier this year to force Mexico to act.

The number of people apprehended along the southern border fell by 61 percent between this year’s high point in May and the end of August. In Yuma, it fell by 86 percent, according to government figures. Most people apprehended are either traveling as families or are unaccompanied children.

“Historically this has been a huge crossing point for both vehicles as well as family units and unaccompanied alien children during the crisis that we’ve seen in the past couple of months,” Border Patrol spokesman Jose Garibay said. “They’ve just been pouring over the border due to the fact that we’ve only ever had vehicle bollards and barriers that by design only stop vehicles.”

Victor Manjarrez Jr., a former Border Patrol chief who’s now a professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, was an agent when the government put up the first stretch of barriers along the southern border — in San Diego.

He’s seen barriers evolve from easily collapsible landing mats installed by agents and the National Guard to the sophisticated, multibillion-dollar projects now being done by private contractors.

Manjarrez says tall border fencing is crucial in some areas and less helpful in others, like remote stretches of desert where shorter barriers and more technology like ground sensors would suffice.

“One form doesn’t fit in all areas, and so the fence itself is not the one solution. It’s a combination of many things,” Manjarrez said.

The ease of construction varies by place and depends on things like water, Manjarrez said, adding that just because a plot of land is flat “doesn’t mean it’s not complex.”

He said building 450 to 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fence by the end of next year would be tough if that figure doesn’t include sections of the wall that have been built recently.

“As it stands now, contractors are building pretty fast,” Manjarrez said. The real question is whether the government needs to build that much fencing, he said.

The Trump administration may face those issues along with lawsuits from landowners who aren’t giving up their property so easily and environmentalists who say the barriers stop animals from migrating and can cut off water resources.

The Tohono O’odham tribe in Arizona also has expressed opposition to more border fencing on its land, which stretches for nearly 75 miles (120 kilometers) along the border with Mexico.

Near Yuma, the Cocopah Indian Tribe’s reservation is near the latest fencing project, and leaders are concerned it will block the view to its sacred sites, spokesman Jonathan Athens said.

BARTON COUNTY —Friday the 13th was an unlucky day for methamphetamine dealers in Barton County. The Sheriff’s office conducted three search warrants at various locations in the county, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir. It is believed this was a methamphetamine distribution operation.

Shortly after 10 AM deputies and detectives executed a search warrant at 1411 20th St. in Great Bend. Deputies arrested Roosevelt (Ty) Henderson, 32 of Great Bend on requested charges of distribution of methamphetamine, criminal use of a firearm as well as destruction of evidence. As deputies were attempting to gain entry into the residence, Henderson attempted to flush suspected methamphetamine down the toilet causing it to clog. A large amount of cash as well as a handgun were located at the residence. Henderson is being held in lieu of a $300,000 bond.

Just before 11a.m. deputies then proceeded to 260 N. Washington just north of the City of Great Bend. Deputies gained entry to the residence and contacted John Paul Zapata. Zapata was arrested on charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and felon in possession of a firearm. Four children were also found in the residence Juvenile Services was contacted and a “child in need of care” case has been initiated. Currency was also seized at that residence

At approximately 12:15p.m., deputies executed a search warrant at Affordable Tire and Auto located at 4908 10th Street in Great Bend. At that location Sheriff’s deputies found evidence of distribution of methamphetamine and a stolen firearm. Brett Denning, age 51 of Great Bend was booked into the Barton County jail on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of stolen property.

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a violent attack on a Kansas man and have made an arrest.

Just after 2a.m. August 17, police were dispatched to the Lazy Toad Bar located at 5331 SW 22nd Park in Topeka in reference to a shooting that had occurred in the parking lot, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Koenen. When officers arrived on scene they located a victim later identified as 30-year-old Jesse B. Green. suffering from serious injuries.

He had been shot and run over by a vehicle. After an extended stay in the hospital recovered from his injuries.

On Friday, officers arrested 21-year-old Ty’vaire Demone Henderson in connection with the incident. He was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of attempted first-degree murder.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Nearly 78 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Navy Seaman 2nd Class Wilbur Clayton Barrett will be laid to rest in his native Kansas.

Barrett’s remains were returned to Wichita Thursday. He will be buried in El Dorado on Saturday.

He was an El Dorado native who enlisted in the Navy in May 1940 at age 25.

Barrett’s remains were commingled in mass graves in Hawaii with hundreds of others killed on the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack. Advances in DNA and a renewed push by the military to identify remains led to Barrett being positively identified last June.

Barrett’s great nephew, 72-year-old Joe Binter, said the Navy used DNA from one of his aunts to identify the sailor.

WICHITA, KAN. – An Ohio gamer involved in a swatting incident that led to a death was sentenced Friday to 15 months in prison, according U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

In addition, the defendant was ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution. After the prison term, he will serve two years on supervised release.

Casey S. Viner, 19, North College Hill, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of obstructing justice.

“Swatting, and soliciting others to swat someone, are more than foolish,” McAllister said. “Such actions are reckless, dangerous and, as this case proves, potentially tragic. Swatting is not a prank, and it is no way to resolve disputes among gamers. Once again, I call upon gamers to self-police their community to ensure that the practice of swatting is ended once and for all.”

In his plea, Viner admitted he argued with co-defendant Shane Gaskill while playing Call of Duty World War II online. Viner contacted co-defendant Tyler Barriss and asked him to swat Gaskill, Viner thought Gaskill lived at 1033 W. McCormick in Wichita.

In fact, Gaskill gave Viner and Barriss a false address. Barriss called Wichita police and reported a hostage situation at 1033 W. McCormick. Police responded, believing they were dealing with a man who had shot his own father and was holding family members hostage. Andrew Finch, who lived at the address, did not know why police were at his home when he stepped onto the porch. When Finch made a move that startled officers, he was shot and killed.

Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Barriss pleaded guilty to more than 50 felonies nationwide, including federal charges in Kansas of making an interstate hoax that resulted in a death and cyberstalking. Gaskill was placed on deferred prosecution.

In his plea, Viner admitted trying to erase any record on his phone of his communications with Barriss and Gaskill.

BOSTON (AP) — “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT scores in the college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of wealthy and well-connected parents.

Huffman, 56, became the first of 34 parents to be sentenced in the case. She was also given a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and a year of supervised release.

Before sentencing, she tearfully described her daughter asking why Huffman didn’t trust her.

“I can only say I am so sorry, Sophia,” Huffman said. “I was frightened. I was stupid, and I was so wrong. I am deeply ashamed of what I have done. I have inflicted more damage than I could ever imagine. I now see all the things that led me down this road, but ultimately none of the reasons matter because at the end of the day I had a choice. I could have said no.”

A total of 51 people have been charged in the scheme, the biggest college admissions case ever prosecuted by the Justice Department.

In his argument for incarceration, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said Friday that prosecutors had no reason to doubt the rationale she offered — her fears and insecurities as a parent — for taking part in the scheme.

“But with all due respect to the defendant, welcome to parenthood,” Rosen said. “Parenthood is terrifying, exhausting and stressful, but that’s what every parent goes through. … What parenthood does not do, it does not make you a felon, it does not make you cheat, in fact it makes you want to serve as a positive role model for your children.”

Huffman’s lawyer Martin Murphy argued that her crimes were less serious than those of her co-defendants, noting that she paid a low amount and that, unlike others, she did not enlist her daughter in the scheme.

“One of the key things the court should do is to impose a sentence that treats Ms. Huffman like other similarly situated defendants, not treat her more harshly because of her wealth and fame, or treat her more favorably because of her wealth and fame,” Murphy said.

The scandal has embroiled elite universities across the country, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and UCLA. It exposed the lengths to which parents will go to get their children into the “right” schools and reinforced suspicions that the college admissions process is slanted toward the rich.

Prosecutors said parents schemed to manipulate test scores and bribed coaches to get their children into elite schools by having them labeled as recruited athletes for sports they didn’t even play.

Huffman pleaded guilty in May to a single count of conspiracy and fraud as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Prosecutors had requested prison time to send the message that white-collar criminals can’t simply buy their way out of jail.

But her lawyers argued that Huffman was only a “customer” in a broader scheme orchestrated by others. In past cases involving cheating or academic fraud, they said, only the ringleaders went to prison.

The case is seen as an indicator of what’s in store for other defendants. Over the next two months, nearly a dozen other parents are scheduled to be sentenced. Fifteen parents have pleaded guilty, while 19 are fighting the charges.

Among those contesting the charges are “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who are accused of paying to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as fake athletes.

Former Stanford University sailing coach John Vandemoer is the only other person sentenced so far and received a day in prison. He admitted helping students get into Stanford as recruited athletes in exchange for $270,000 for his sailing program.

Huffman paid $15,000 to boost her older daughter Sofia’s SAT scores with the help of William “Rick” Singer, an admission consultant at the center of the scheme. Singer, who has pleaded guilty, allegedly bribed a test proctor to correct the teenager’s answers.

Authorities said Huffman’s daughter got a bump of 400 points from her earlier score on the PSAT, a practice version of the SAT.

The actress has said her daughter was unaware of the arrangement.

In a letter this month asking for leniency, Huffman said she carries “a deep and abiding shame” and recognizes that she broke the law and betrayed her family. She said she turned to the scheme after her daughter’s dreams of going to college and pursuing an acting career were jeopardized by her low math score.

“I honestly didn’t and don’t care about my daughter going to a prestigious college,” Huffman wrote. “I just wanted to give her a shot at being considered for a program where her acting talent would be the deciding factor.”

Prosecutors countered that Huffman was driven by “a sense of entitlement, or at least moral cluelessness, facilitated by wealth and insularity.”

“Millions of parents send their kids to college every year. All of them care as much she does about their children’s fortunes,” they said in court papers. “But they don’t buy fake SAT scores and joke about it (‘Ruh Ro!’) along the way.”

Huffman used the Scooby-Doo catchphrase in an email after her daughter’s high school tried to make her take the exam with its own proctor instead of one preferred by Singer.

Prosecutors have not said which colleges her daughter applied to with the fraudulent SAT score.

Huffman’s husband, actor William H. Macy, was not charged.

The amount Huffman paid is relatively low compared with other bribes alleged in the scheme. Some parents are accused of paying up to $500,000.

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FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Garden City and have identified the victim.

Just before 11p.m. police and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded to the area of Buffalo Jones Avenue and Bancroft Street in Garden City for a reported person down, according to police captain Randy Ralston.

Upon the arrival of first responders, they located a man identified as the restaurant owner Ernest Ortiz 69, Garden City,  lying on the east parking lot entrance to the El Conquistador Restaurant, 1601 Buffalo Jones Avenue with gunshot wounds.

EMS transported  him to St. Catherine Hospital, where he later died.  The preliminary investigation has revealed that this could be a possible robbery, according to Ralston.

Police have not made an arrest.

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FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Garden City.

Just before 11p.m. Thursday police responded to report of a victim on the ground near a restaurant in the 1600 Block of Buffalo Jones Avenue, according to a media release.

EMS transported the victim to St. Catherine’s Hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds. The victim died.

Police have not reported an arrest.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is referring 12 former clergy for potential criminal prosecution after his office completed a 13-month investigation of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

Schmitt on Friday released details of the investigation of religious leaders within the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the dioceses of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Springfield-Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City.

Missouri is among several states that launched investigations last year after a Pennsylvania report cited abuse of more than 1,000 children by hundreds of priests there since the 1940s, and efforts by church leaders to hide it.

The Missouri investigation began in August 2018 under then-Attorney General Josh Hawley. Hawley was elected to the U.S. Senate in November, and Schmitt, a fellow Republican, took over the investigation after he was appointed to replace him.

Schmitt said the 12 referrals are the most by any state attorney general since the Pennsylvania report.

“The betrayal of trust and of innocence is devastating and in many instances incomprehensible,” Schmitt, himself a Catholic, said at a news conference in St. Louis.

The investigation reviewed personnel records for every priest serving in Missouri dating to 1945 — more than 2,000 priests and 300 deacons, seminarians and religious women, Schmitt said. Investigators also spoke to abuse survivors and their relatives who contacted the attorney general’s office.

Investigators found 163 priests or clergy members accused of sexual abuse or misconduct against minors. Eighty-three have died. Of the 80 still alive, the statute of limitations has run out on 46 of the crimes, Schmitt said.

One case is still under open investigation by the Catholic Church. Schmitt said 16 cases have been previously referred for local prosecution and five cases have been or are being investigated by prosecutors, leaving the 12 potential cases Schmitt is referring for prosecution.

Schmitt said it was clear the church was involved in a “long, sustained and far-reaching cover-up,” but said his office didn’t consider recommending charges against anyone in the church hierarchy because the focus was on the “perpetrators of the crimes.”

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called that decision “tragic.” Clohessy said Schmitt also should have released more details about the alleged crimes and where they occurred.

“Even without naming individual names, he could still provide much more helpful information than he has,” Clohessy said.

Spokeswomen for the Jefferson City and Springfield-Cape Girardeau dioceses said they had not seen the report and declined comment. Phone messages left with the St. Louis archdiocese and the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese were not immediately returned.

Schmitt’s office also provided recommendations to the Catholic Church. They included assuming greater responsibility and oversight of religious order priests and those visiting from other dioceses; developing independent review boards composed entirely of lay people; and being more open when a priest is removed from the ministry.

Schmitt said the clergy abuse hotline will remain open and he encouraged any additional abuse victims to come forward.

Each of the state’s Roman Catholic jurisdictions conducted its own internal investigation , too.

The St. Louis investigation released in July found 61 clergy with what the archdiocese called “substantiated” allegations of sexual abuse of children. Thirty-four of the priests are deceased. The archdiocese said all of the living priests have been removed from the ministry. The list separately named three additional priests accused of possessing child pornography.

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese released its report last week, citing 19 clerics, none of them currently serving. Thirteen have died, two have been removed from ministry, and four have been removed from ministry. One of the laicized clerics, Shawn Ratigan, is serving 50 years in federal prison on a 2013 conviction for producing or attempting to produce child pornography.

The other two dioceses released similar lists of accused religious leaders last year. The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau identified 16 priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse of children. The Diocese of Jefferson City listed 35 credibly accused church officials, including 30 priests and five members of a religious order.

SALINE COUNTY — One person was  injured in an accident just after 4:30p.m. Thursday in Saline County.

A 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by driven by Braden Valentine, 17, Salina was northbound in the 8000 block of South Ohio Street, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan. The driver lost control of the vehicle. It rolled into the east ditch.

Valentine was able to get out and kick out a window so his 13-year-old passenger could get out. EMS transported the passenger to the hospital in Salina. Valentine refused treatment.

Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to Soldan.  Valentine was cited for unsafe speed for the gravel road.

SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Two 13-year-olds have been charged with bringing guns to a suburban Kansas City middle school.

Prosecutors in Johnson County, Kansas, announced Thursday that the teens are charged with being juveniles in possession of a firearm. The announcement was made one day after the guns were found in the students’ backpacks at Hocker Grove Middle School in Shawnee.

Principal Chris Kase said in a letter to parents that administrators were tipped off by concerned classmates. The principal noted that no evidence suggests that the teens planned to use the guns at the middle school.

Johnson County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Kristi Bergeron says other details, including the teens’ names, won’t be released because of their age.