Ayden Lopez, 7, from Nebraska, was born with arthrogryposis, a rare condition that causes multiple joint contractures at birth.

On Monday, she and her mom, Anissa Padgett, visited Shriners Children’s Twin Cities Hospital for the first time, consulting with orthopedic and hand surgeon, Dr. Van Heest, whose name the two said in unison, prompting Lopez to cast a jinx spell on her mom.

“Your joint’s kind of grew a different way than everybody else’s, didn’t they,” Padgett said after Lopez released her from the spell by saying, “mommy” twice.

In honor of the 75th anniversary year of “Peanuts,” created by Minnesota native Charles M. Schulz, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Shriners Children’s Twin Cities in Woodbury hosted Paintfest, a paint-by-number mural event for patients and families to create together, in between appointments.

The six-panel canvas piece featuring “Peanuts” characters like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus and crew, was donated by the Foundation for Hospital Art, a national nonprofit that donates “joyful Peanuts-themed murals to hospitals around the world.” Many children participating in the event have orthopedic conditions that can affect hands and arms and make joint movement challenging, but it doesn’t stop them from getting in on the fun.

“In child life, we’re focused on helping kids cope with their medical conditions, and help them to see that their physical bodies don’t have to limit what they’re capable of doing,” child life specialist Audrey Haugen said. “They can do anything they set their minds to.”

‘I’m having so much fun’

The 102-year-old hospital transitioned to an outpatient clinic in recent years and moved from its original Minneapolis location to its current Woodbury-based facility in 2020.

The pediatric, orthopedic hospital specializes in a variety of services, including burn injuries, craniofacial conditions, spine care and spinal cord injuries, and sports medicine. On Monday, one of Shriners’ hands and arms visiting specialists was on site to see patients in need of upper extremities care, ranging from injury, illness-related conditions, to functional or appearance differences, Haugen said.

While painting “Peanuts” character Lucy, Lopez would say out loud, “I’m having so much fun,” and “this is so fun.” She and her mom are making a trip of their visit to Minnesota, Padgett said. They have plans to shop at the Mall of America, and little artist Lopez is especially excited for the Crayola Experience.

Other patients also traveled from outside the state, like the Kagemann family from Iowa and the Kraft family from Wisconsin.

Five-year-old Theo Kagemann was born with three fingers on his left hand and a webbed thumb, his mom Jessica Kagemann explained. They came to Shriners, Monday for a consult following surgery Theo underwent for his thumb to provide a better range of motion.

“It’s pretty exceptional here,” Jessica Kagemann said about Shriners.

‘Not so much about just being a doctor’s visit’

Their family has visited the hospital for the past two years for Theo’s condition and each time they try to make the visit, which consists of a four-hour drive, which Theo emphasized, more like a vacation. In the past, their family has stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge, visited the Mall of America and other attractions, but Monday’s “Peanuts” event was a welcome surprise they hadn’t planned for.

“It makes it not so much about just being a doctor’s visit,” said dad Tyler Kagemann. “It’s something fun to do with the kids, and that’s what we like to do when we make the trips up here, too, make it fun.

Theo’s seven-year-old sister also enjoyed the “Peanuts” mural event as she waited for her brother to return from his appointment. By the time he appeared, she’d already moved on to her second canvas, arms covered in paint and Snoopy a lovely shade of fire engine red.

Their family had never watched or read the cartoons together, but they will after this event, they said. After all, it is the season for “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” and Theo was especially excited to stream the classic at home.

Paintfest mural

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Fourteen-year-old Abby Kraft and 17-year-old Zeke Kraft, however, who both visit the hospital due to their genetic bone conditions, are no strangers to the “Peanuts gang,” they said.

The Gen Z Wisconsinites grew up with the characters and chuckled when seven-year-old Ayden said that when she heard the name Snoopy, she thought only of rapper Snoop Dog.

Once fully painted, the “Peanuts” mural will hang on the walls of Shriners in Woodbury, making it the first Paintfest mural created by the hands of patients, families and staff. It’s also the hospital’s first cartoon-style mural, marketing manager Lauren Elm said.

By JOSH FUNK

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that the government shutdown is putting more stress on air traffic controllers who already have an extremely stressful job, as well as threatening a program that small communities rely on to help subsidize airline service.

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Controllers are expected to continue working without a paycheck, Duffy said, so they are now worried about how to pay their bills in addition to worrying about keeping flights safe.

“Now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, how am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home. How do I put food on the table? I’m working six days a week. Do I have to take a second job and drive Uber when I’m already exhausted from doing a job that’s already stressful to think about how I can make extra money because the government may not provide me a paycheck?” Duffy said.

Travelers at Newark Liberty International Airport, where Duffy held his news conference, said controllers should be paid for their work.

“Everyone should get paid for what they are doing. Of course it bothers me,” said Daniel Johansson from North Carolina.

A traveler from Utah, Nancy Taylor, agreed.

“Yeah, that would be hard to work for no pay,” Taylor said. “But I think they understand the importance of their job. And the safety that provides to us as travelers. They need to get paid.”

The Transportation Department has been able to keep the air traffic controller academy in Oklahoma City open for now with funding from previous years, but Duffy is still concerned about the potential impact on efforts to hire and train new controllers in the hope of eliminating a longstanding shortage. Duffy said the support staff who train controllers after they come out of the academy could be laid off.

The head of the air traffic controllers union, Nick Daniels, stayed away from political comments, but he urged Congress to end the shutdown.

“We need to bring this shutdown to a close, so that the Federal Aviation Administration and the committed aviation safety professionals can put this distraction behind us, and completely focus on their vital work,” Daniels said.

Duffy said there has already been a small uptick in controllers calling out sick in a few places. If that gets worse as the shutdown drags on, the FAA could be forced to reduce the number of takeoffs and landings, which would create delays and possibly cancellations.

The Essential Air Service program that subsidizes airline service to small communities across the country will also quickly run out of money. Duffy said that program enjoys strong bipartisan support and provides an important lifeline to many small communities. It is especially important in Alaska, where flying is the only way to travel between many communities.

“That money runs out this Sunday. So there’s many small communities across the country that will now no longer have the resources to make sure they have air service in their community,” Duffy said.

Associated Press videographer Joseph Frederick contributed to this report from Newark, New Jersey.

MOUNT JUDEA, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas officials shot and killed a male black bear that they believe fatally mauled a 60-year-old Missouri man last week at his campsite in the Ozark National Forest, authorities said Monday.

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The body of Max Thomas of Springfield, Missouri, was discovered Thursday several yards outside the Sam’s Throne campground in northwest Arkansas, Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said.

A deputy had gone to the campground after the man’s son reported he had not heard from his father, who had sent his family pictures of a black bear in his camp Tuesday morning, Wheeler said. The deputy found evidence of a struggle and injury, including drag marks from the campground into the woods, the sheriff said.

“We believe he was in the process of breaking down his camp when the attack occurred,” Wheeler said.

The state medical examiner’s office determined the man’s death to be an “animal mauling.”

On Sunday, a bear was caught on a trail camera near the campground that appeared to be the same animal photographed by the victim and encountered by another man at a roadside overlook in the area, Wheeler said.

Local hunters and hounds were brought into the area and quickly tracked the bear, which was killed and transported to Little Rock, where authorities will obtain DNA samples to confirm it is the bear who fatally attacked the man.

“We knew the bear in the photos was a male and this one is too,” Wheeler said in a press release. “It matches the size of the photographed bear and has the same facial colorations. Not to mention it was back in the same area where the attack happened.”

It is the second fatal bear attack in Arkansas in recent weeks. In September, a 72-year-old man died after being attacked by a bear in nearby Franklin County, according to authorities with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Despite the recent attacks, Don White Jr., a large mammal ecologist at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, said fatal bear attacks in Arkansas are “exceedingly rare.”

The last confirmed fatal bear attack in Arkansas was in 1892, said Keith Stephens, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Although black bears were common in Arkansas before European settlement, the numbers dwindled to fewer than 50 by the 1930s, White said. Those numbers have continued to climb since the reintroduction of hundreds of black bears into the Ouachita and Ozark mountains of Arkansas in the 1950s and 1960s, with an estimated 5,000 black bears in the state now, although White said that figure is difficult to pinpoint.

By PATRICK WHITTLE

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Authorities in Maine are investigating an allegation that dozens of unmarked ballots that were to be used in this November’s election arrived inside a woman’s Amazon order.

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The town of Ellsworth reported to the state last week that it was missing a shipment of 250 absentee ballots, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Monday. That happened the same day a woman in a town roughly 40 miles away reported finding bundles of ballots — 250 in all — wrapped in plastic inside the box that contained her delivery from Amazon.

The secretary of state’s law enforcement division is investigating the discovery with assistance from the FBI and state authorities, Bellows said during a news conference at the state Capitol. She declined to identify the person who reported the ballots inside the delivery box, except to confirm she lived in the town of Newburgh.

“I have full confidence that law enforcement will determine who is responsible, and any bad actor will be held accountable,” she said, suggesting there could be other examples.

“This year, it seems that there may have been attempts to interrupt the distribution of ballots and ballot materials,” Bellows said, declining to elaborate.

The investigation into the wayward ballots is taking place less than a month before the state’s Nov. 4 election and with absentee voting already underway. The ballot includes a Republican-backed initiative that would implement a photo ID requirement for voters, limit the use of drop boxes and make changes to the state’s absentee voting system.

It also comes as Bellows, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2026, is clashing with the U.S. Department of Justice over its requests in numerous states for detailed voter roll information. The department has sued several states that have refused to turn over the data, including Maine.

Bellows has been a target of Republican ire in Maine since she removed President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause. Trump appeared on the ballot after the U.S. Supreme Court intervened.

The story of the misplaced ballots has spread widely on social media since a conservative website in the state first reported it last week and has reignited claims by conservatives that Maine’s elections need to be more secure. Some prominent Republicans have used it to promote the need for the election-related ballot initiative.

“What this means is that Mainers need to turn out in force, and every single person that supports voter ID and securing our elections needs to get out and vote between now and Nov. 4 to ensure that we secure our elections,” said Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby, a supporter of the voter ID initiative.

Maine’s top Republicans in the Democratic-majority Legislature sent a letter last week to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel requesting an investigation into the claims. The letter states that the person who received the package, whom it does not name, informed their town office about the discovery.

Officials with the Justice Department and town of Newburgh declined to comment. Amazon said the company is cooperating with Maine’s investigation.

“Based on our initial findings, it appears that this package was tampered with outside of our fulfillment and delivery network, and not by an Amazon employee or partner,” the company said in a statement to The Associated Press.