Kansas State Considers Policy Allowing Guns on Campus
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) - Kansas State University would allow concealed firearms in all building under guidelines it is developing for complying with a state law. A university work group is planning a forum September 15 before submitting the guidelines to the Kansas Board of Regents for approval. Beginning in July of next year, the state's public universities must allow concealed weapons on campus in buildings that don't have security measures including metal detectors. The Kansas Board of Regents has directed universities to develop more detailed policies by the fall. Under Kansas State's proposed policy, no residence hall, classroom or other campus location would have the security measures that would allow a complete concealed carry prohibition. But concealed carry could be prohibited when temporary security measures are in place.
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KU, K-State Take Different Approaches for Dealing with Budget Cuts
The University of Kansas and Kansas State University have adopted differing strategies for dealing with state funding cuts. This week, KU announced targeted cuts that include significant reductions for some specific programs. K-State, however, has given all departments an across-the-board cut of just under 4 percent. That's according to K-State spokesperson Jeff Morris, who says some departments have also reduced the number of teaching assistants and postponed construction projects. Governor Sam Brownback cut higher education funding by $30 million in May as a way to help balance the state budget.
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Defense Attorneys Clash with Prison over Recorded Meetings
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Defense attorneys who represent inmates at a privately run federal prison in Kansas were livid after learning that their meetings with clients had been recorded on video. The recordings that came to light this month had no audio, but the attorney complaints raise the question of whether nonverbal interactions such as body language or the exchange of legal documents are protected under attorney-client privilege. A federal judge says the videos might have violated the Sixth Amendment rights of hundreds of inmates in Leavenworth and ordered them stopped. The company that runs the prison, Corrections Corporation of America, insists that silent video recordings of inmate-attorney meetings are a standard practice throughout the country and are used solely to enhance the prison's security.
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Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado Reach Republican River Agreement
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska have reached a new agreement in their longstanding conflict over water in the Republican River basin. The three states announced Friday that they have signed resolutions following monthly negotiations that stretched over two years. The two resolutions are intended to provide greater flexibility and certainty for all water users in the region. The states have been locked in legal battles over the water for the last 15 years. The 1943 compact entitles Nebraska to 49 percent of the river's water, while Kansas receives 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent. The Republican River originates in Colorado, crosses the northwestern tip of Kansas into Nebraska, then runs through Nebraska before re-entering Kansas in its northeastern corner.
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Garmin Announces Major Expansion at Olathe Headquarters
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Garmin International says it is planning a $200 million expansion at its headquarters in Olathe. Garmin and the city of Olathe announced Friday that the company will build a new manufacturing and distribution center and new road through its campus. The project is expected to take two years. The Kansas City Star reports after the expansion is completed, the company plans to renovate its existing manufacturing and warehouse space for research, development and office space. The company currently employs about 2,800 at its headquarters. The expansion will accommodate another 2,600 workers. Company spokesman Ted Gartner says officials have not decided whether about 600 Garmin workers who work elsewhere in the Kansas City area will be moved to the expanded headquarters.
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Pokemon Go Player Injured in Crash at Wichita State Campus
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a Pokemon Go player has crashed his car in southern Kansas while playing the mobile game. KAKE-TV reports that the crash happened Thursday morning on Wichita State University's campus in Maize. Maize police said the man has been playing Pokemon Go while driving when his car collided with a pole in a parking lot. The man in his 20s received cuts and scrapes. His car had to be towed from the lot.
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Child Wounded in Accidental Shooting in Lawrence
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Authorities say a shooting that wounded a 6-year-old child in Lawrence was reported as an accident. Police responded to the shooting around 7:45 Thursday morning. The child was taken to a hospital and is listed in stable condition. Detectives are still investigating the circumstances of the shooting.
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Man Who Caused Fatal Crash Gets Less Prison Time than Prosecutors Sought
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) - A man who smoked marijuana, drove 115 mph and caused a fatal accident in suburban Kansas City has been sentenced to two and a half years in Missouri prison. Julian Melissinas of Blue Springs apologized to the victim's family during his sentencing Thursday in Jackson County (Missouri). The 21-year-old had already pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in relation to the death of 19-year-old Clint Jacoby Reno in May of last year. The Kansas City Star reports several relatives of Reno were dismayed by the sentence -- which was half the punishment prosecutors were seeking. The manslaughter charge is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Police say Melissinas was going about 115 mph, with Reno as a passenger, when the vehicle went airborne, traveled through a field and struck a tree.
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Trump Rally Protester Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One of several protesters charged after disruptions at a Kansas City rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. After his plea Friday on a disorderly conduct charge, 28-year-old Shane Michael Stange was given a suspended 30-day sentence and placed on a year of probation. The Kansas City Star reportsStange was one of four people charged with acting in a disorderly and provocative manner outside the Trump rally March 12 in downtown Kansas City. The other cases are still pending. Another defendant who was charged with assaulting a police service animal after allegedly slapping a police horse just before police released pepper spray into the crowd also is awaiting a hearing in Kansas City Municipal Court.
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Gas Line Leak Temporarily Shuts Down I-70 in Central Kansas
GLENDALE, Kan. (AP) _ A central Kansas gas line leak temporarily shut down Interstate 70. No one was hurt from the leak, which was reported a little before 1 pm Thursday about 20 miles west of Salina. Because the leak caused a loud noise and flying dirt, it was initially reported as a gas line explosion. Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Ben Gardner says gas levels had lowered to safe readings and both directions of I-70 were reopened around 3:15 pm Thursday. Northern Natural Gas says there was no danger to the public.
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Central Kansas Crop Duster Hurt in Crash
BUSHTON, Kan. (AP) - Authorities say a Kansas pilot has been injured in a small plane crash in central Kansas. The Highway Patrol says 51-year-old Bradley Fitchett, of Ellsworth, was flying a crop duster in a field south of Bushton yesterday (THUR) when the plane developed engine trouble. The Hays Post says Fitchett attempted to make an emergency landing when the plane flipped. The pilot was transported to Great Bend hospital and then transferred to a Wichita hospital. Authorities say the helmet Fitchett was wearing was crushed in two places and likely saved Fitchett from a more serious head injury. The accident is under investigation.
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Kansas Motel Owner Gets Probation for Trying to Kill Wife
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas motel owner who nearly stabbed his wife to death last summer has been sentenced to probation, in part because of the cultural ramifications his incarceration would have had on his family. An attorney for 46-year-old Navinkumar Patel told Shawnee County District Judge Robert Fairchild on Thursday that in the Hindu culture of Patel's family, his wife and children would essentially be "ostracized" if he were sent to prison. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Patel pleaded no-contest in March to attempted second-degree murder and criminal threat for stabbing his wife in the abdomen at the Super 8 he owns in Lawrence. A doctor testified that Patel suffers from bipolar disorder, which was made worse by alcohol addiction. Terms of probation have not been determined.
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Man Convicted in Fatal 1986 Crash Arrested
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man who had alcohol in his system when he killed a family of five in a crash 30 years ago has been charged with driving under the influence. Shawnee County sheriff's Sergeant Todd Stallbaumer says deputies spotted 52-year-old Daryl Goodnow, of Meriden, attempting to drive a pickup truck Wednesday with a light pole lodged underneath. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Goodnow was transported to the Shawnee County Jail and has been released on bond. Goodnow was 21 in 1986 when the truck he was driving crossed the center line of U.S. 75 and collided head-on with a sport utility vehicle. The crash killed a rural Mayetta couple and three children. Goodnow was released on parole in 1991 but violated it with a 1995 DUI arrest in Topeka.
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Kansas Man Charged with Kidnapping St. Louis Teenager
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A Wichita man has been charged with kidnapping a teenage girl from St. Louis after meeting her on Facebook. Prosecutors say 49-year-old Johnny Angel Vallejo is charged with kidnapping a minor and transporting a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activities.
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Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Scalding Child with Hot Water
PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for scalding a 2-year-old with hot water. Platte County authorities say 32-year-old Daniel A. Rose was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to first-degree assault in the March 2013 case. The Kansas City Star reports Rose told officers he noticed a rash on the girl while he was watching her but called the child's mother rather than calling 911. The mother, who was Rose's girlfriend, came home and took the child to Children's Mercy Hospital. The child was treated for first- and second-degree burns, which had blistered. Rose later said the girl had fallen into the tub while he was preparing to give her a bath. Authorities say the child suffered burns on 20 percent of her body.
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Health Warnings Issued over Algae Blooms in 5 Kansas Lakes
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ State health officials say five Kansas lakes are now under health warnings because of high levels of toxic blue-green algae blooms. The lakes haven't been closed, but the Department of Health and Environment says contact with the water can cause serious illness and should be avoided. Elevated algae levels have been found in Central Park Lake in Shawnee County, Lake Afton in Sedgwick County, Milford Reservoir (zones A and C) in Clay, Dickinson and Geary counties, Overbrook City Lake in Osage County, and Overland Park's South Lake in Johnson County. Health fficials say the lake water should never be consumed by humans, pets or livestock.
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2 Missouri Men Charged in Kansas Bank Robbery
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) _ Two Kansas City men have been charged with robbing a bank on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. The U.S. attorney's office says 57-year-old Terry Lovelady and 42-year-old Chad English were charged Thursday in federal court. Lovelady is accused in the criminal complaint of robbing a Leawood branch of the Central Bank of the Midwest on Wednesday. The complaint says English drove the getaway car during a chase that ended when the vehicle jumped a curb, rolled down a hill and came to a stop in a St. Joseph Medical Center parking lot. The men face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted. No attorney is listed for Lovelady in online court records. English's attorney didn't immediately return an email message from The Associated Press.
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Kansas Predicts Low Pension Investment Returns
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ New data shows that the state's expected low return on pension investments over the past year is a reflection of a national downward trend. That's according to a report from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts. The report comes days after the one-year anniversary of a $1 billion pension bond that infused the state's public pension system, KPERS, with cash to invest. According to KPERS director Alan Conroy, early indications show the investments likely earned just enough over the past year to pay the bond's annual interest of about 5 percent or generate a small profit. The annual return target is 8 percent. Pew's report says public pension systems across the country only produced an average return of 0.9 percent during fiscal year 2016.
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Topeka Man Faces New Sentencing in Ft. Riley Bomb Plot
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A federal judge has set a new sentencing date for a Kansas man who has admitted aiding a wannabe Islamic State terrorist who was planning to detonate a bomb at Fort Riley army base. The new sentencing date for Alexander Blair is September 8. The 29-year-old Topeka man has admitted his role in a foiled plan to kill or maim as many U.S. service members as possible at Fort Riley. He blames a genetic disorder for allowing others to take advantage of him. Blair pleaded guilty in May to a conspiracy count that carries up to five years' imprisonment. He admitted loaning John T. Booker $100 to pay for the storage of the device during an FBI sting.
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Kansas City Group Builds Tiny House Duplex for Homeless
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Members of a Kansas City group are building a tiny house duplex to be used as transitional housing for homeless people. The Kansas City Star reports that members of YouthBuild KCK are building the tiny house as part of the "Bring Kansas Home" Kansas Housing Conference. The tiny house duplex, which will have two separate 64-square-foot homes, will be able to provide shelter for 90 days while people look for permanent housing. The duplex will be placed in Pittsburg, Kansas. The home is expected to be mostly completed by the end of the conference. The duplex is being funded by the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. and private donors. YouthBuild KCK allows at-risk youth to complete high school while earning construction certification.
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Royals Beat Marlins 5-2, Take Series
MIAMI (AP) _ The Kansas City Royals beat the Miami Marlins 5-2 last (THUR) night, winning the series. The World Series champ have now won 15 of their last 18 games.
