Tammy Ljungblad

Chiefs fans celebrated with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Blake Bell after he pulled in a touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans Sunday, January 12, 2020, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Bruce Breslow, co-owner of The Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, Kansas, holds up two of the shop’s handmade marbles, which he elevates to works of art. Breslow, who owns the business with partner Lynda Sproules, melts glass to craft some of his intricate, collectible marbles.

Iasha Cannady walked in disbelief through the extensive devastation in her Jefferson City, Missouri, neighborhood, the day after an EF-3 tornado ripped through on the night of May 22, 2019. The tornado that caused widespread and catastrophic damage to homes and businesses.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) hugs Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid as Tammy Reid looks on after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII, defeating the the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Vanessa Jackson of Leavenworth, Kansas, stands near a weeping willow tree planted in memory of her son, Caleb Jackson, 18, on the grounds of the family’s church, High Prairie Gospel Church, in Leavenworth, Kansas. Caleb Jackson, 18, who Vanessa and her husband, Todd Jackson, adopted as a young child, died from fentanyl poisoning in March. Caleb was a beloved member of the church.

Kansas City Chiefs fans take cover after shots were fired during the Super Bowl Championship rally on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, at Union Station in Kansas City. Twenty-two people were shot, including one fatally.

Army veteran Michael Connelly of Smithville is comforted by his friend, Lisa McCann of Excelsior Springs, as he is overcome with emotion upon viewing the names of comrades killed in Cambodia. Connelly, a three-time Purple Heart recipient who served with the Army's 1st Infantry Division during the Vietnam War, visited the AVTT Traveling Vietnam Veteran's Wall at the Liberty Memorial on Saturday, May 23, 2015. The replica wall, which bears over 58,000 names, serves as a powerful reminder of the great sacrifice of the war, 40 years after its conclusion.

“You have no authority to kill minorities,” screamed a woman at Kansas City Police during a George Floyd protest Friday, May 29, 2020, at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Protests have been erupting all over the country after George Floyd died earlier this week in police custody in Minneapolis.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) lifts wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. (12) after he scored the winning touchdown in overtime to beat the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas.

Gwendelrae Hicks, left, a rare female funeral home owner, and Amberlie Gonzalez, her assistant funeral director and apprentice embalmer, move a body into a casket on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, at Northern Star Morturary in Kansas City, Kansas. Hicks and her husband, Scottie Hicks, own and operate the mortuary in Wyandotte County and also one in Wichita.

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 112 Waters St., in Corning, Missouri in Holt County, sits surrounded by flood waters from the Missouri River on April 5, 2019. The church, which dates to 1893, also flooded in 2011. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Staff photo by Tammy Ljungblad/05-23-07/Middle school teacher Tammy Collins shares a heartfelt hug with sixth-grader Stephanie Valle Wednesday at the close of the school year for All Saints Catholic School in Kansas City, Kan. The kindergarten through eighth grade school is consolidating and closing the All Saints location. "My joy, my heart is just gonna bust," said Collins as weeping students hugged her goodbye. Collins, who will be unemployed with the school closing, has no new teaching job lined up. .Unpublished photos taken by Kansas City Star photographers in 2007. Photography. Classroom. School closing. Sad. CUTLINE Last Day: It wasn't just the kids' last day of the school year at All Saints Catholic School in Kansas City, Kan. - it was the school's last day, too. The building would close and its students would move to another school in the fall. That day last May, Tammy Ljungblad got this picture of teacher Tammy Collins sharing a heartfelt hug with sixth-grader Stephanie Valle, with other kids lined up for hugs of their own. "It was amazing. They were bawling," Ljungblad remembers. "I was really touched that the students had such an amazing connection with their teacher." This scene points up how important teachers are in kids' lives, she says. TAMMY LJUNGBLAD/THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Longtime friends Jeannie O'Flaherty (left) and Maura Knopke, both of Kansas City, savored the one of their last days of summer together Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, with a jump into the lake at Shawnee Mission Park in Shawnee. The girls, who are almost 17, attend St. Teresa's Academy in Kansas City and report to school for orientation on Wednesday.

With their eyes protected by eclipse glasses, students and staff at Winnwood Elementary School watched the solar eclipse together with their teachers from the playground of their school on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, at 4531 N.E. 44th Terrace in Kansas City. .

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) gets past Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jakorian Bennett (23) for a touchdown in the first half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Kansas City.

Photo by Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/9-30-04/Christine Nemechek (left), a Democrat, watches the Presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry alongside Republican Mary Jones and her husband, Arthur Jones, a swing voter, at the Grandview Lions Club on Thursday, September 30, 2004.

F. Glenn Miller Jr., flashed the Heil Hitler while he was in Johnson County District Court on Friday, July 17, 2015, for pre-trial motions at the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe on July 17, 2015. Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., is accused in fatal shooting of 3 people outside of the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom in April 2014. Miller has taken over his own defense in the capital murder case.

A true neighborhood grocer, Curt's Market, 10101 E. Truman Rd., in Independence, Missouri, still sells the good stuff. Clerk Connie Pyeatt marks the price on a big bag—almost 12 pounds—of bratwurst on November 3, 2022. A classic Coca-Cola clock and scale set the scene at this corner market.

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez ran to Royals relief pitcher Greg Holland after Holland threw the final pitch at Wednesday's ALCS playoff baseball game on October 15, 2014 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO. The Royals defeated the Orioles 2-1 to win the ALCS.

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas connects with children at their level in the small village of Kudawella, Sri Lanka, which was devastated by the recent tsunami. Brownback was accompanying a group from Olathe-based Heart to Heart International to visit those displaced and left homeless by the disaster. (Photo by Tammy Ljungblad/1-10-05)