Kansas House Rejects Budget in Medicaid Expansion Fight
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators who support expanding Medicaid have blocked the next state budget in hopes of forcing a vote on an expansion plan. The Republican-led House voted 63-61 Friday against a proposed $18.4 billion spending blueprint for the budget year beginning July 1. The move sends the proposed budget back to the House and Senate negotiators who agreed on the details Thursday night. Some Democrats and GOP moderates went into the debate on the measure saying they wanted to vote it down to push the GOP-controlled Senate's top Republicans to allow a vote on Medicaid expansion. The House passed an expansion plan in March, but the Senate has not debated it. The vote dashed Republican leaders' hopes of having lawmakers wrap up their business for the year Friday.
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Medicaid Expansion Backers in Kansas to Try to Block Budget
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators who support expanding Medicaid plan to try to block passage of the next state budget in hopes of forcing a vote on an expansion plan. The Republican-controlled House was scheduled to vote Friday on a proposed $18 billion-plus spending blueprint for the budget year beginning July 1. Its details were settled late Thursday by House and Senate negotiators. House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer of Wichita said his fellow Democrats and moderate Republicans hope to vote the plan down to push the GOP-controlled Senate's top Republicans to allow a vote on Medicaid expansion. The House passed an expansion plan in March but the Senate has not debated it. Republican leaders hoped the Legislature would wrap up its business for the year Friday and leave Medicaid expansion until next year.
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2 Arrested in Kansas After Body Found in Missouri Lake
BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have arrested two people in Kansas after a woman's body was found in a Missouri lake. Thirty-three-year-old Samantha McCoy and 43-year-old Monte McCoy were charged Thursday with first-degree assault. KSHB-TV reports that they aren't charged in the death of 69-year-old Cindy McCoy, whose body was found Thursday afternoon in a vehicle in the eastern Missouri town of Butler. But the arrest warrant for Monte McCoy says he and Samantha McCoy acted together and "knowingly attempted to kill or cause serious physical injury to" Cindy McCoy by striking her with a vehicle. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation also had sought Samantha McCoy as a person of interest. The two suspects are jailed in Linn County, Kansas. Their relationship wasn't released. No attorneys are listed for them in online court records.
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Kansas College Releases Review of Player's Heatstroke Death
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas community college has released a summary of its internal review into the heatstroke death last year of a football player who collapsed after the first day of practice. Garden City Community College says the players were provided water. But some players told public radio station KCUR that they were denied water during conditioning drills. The college says in its summary that the temperature was 84 degrees at the start of practice. Head Trainer T.J. Horton says there were 60 gallons of water and large Gatorade containers. Nineteen-year-old Braeden Bradforth of Neptune, New Jersey, was found unconscious outside his dorm room on Aug. 1. He died that night at a hospital. The report says neither the head trainer nor head coach noticed Bradforth complain about the drills.
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Kansas Congressman Forgives His Own Loans to Campaign
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Freshman Republican Congressman Steve Watkins of Kansas has forgiven $225,100 in loans he made to his 2018 campaign, according to a letter filed with the Federal Election Commission. The Kansas City Star reports Watkins had given his campaign nearly half a million dollars in loans during the seven-way GOP primary for an open eastern Kansas congressional seat. Watkins's loans represented a substantial amount of his declared wealth at the time, which was somewhere between $440,053 and $2.7 million, according to required personal financial disclosure forms. Federal campaign finance rules allow candidates to lend unlimited amounts of their own money to their campaigns and to forgive the loans. Watkins's father, Steven Watkins Sr., contributed more than $765,000 to a super political action committee to help his son win the primary.
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Infant Found in Wichita Home with Dead Brother Recovering
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 4-month-old boy who was found injured in a Wichita home where his brother died is recovering from his injuries. The boy, named Tai, was severely underweight and had broken bones when officers found him last month along with the body of his 2-year-old brother, Zaiden. Zaiden's parents, Brandi Marchant and Zaiden's dad Patrick Javonovich, are charged with felony murder and child abuse. Tai's father, Julius Casura, told KAKE-TV that his son is reacting to lights and people talking to him. He says Tai is expected to make a full recovery. Casura said he recently found out he was Tai's dad and he's trying to get full custody of the boy. He says he was unaware of the alleged abuse his son endured.
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24-Year-Old Convicted of Sexually Abusing 2 Students at UMSL
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former University of Missouri-St. Louis graduate student has been convicted of sexually abusing two students in their on-campus apartments in 2017 and 2018. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 24-year-old Devonta Bagley, of Belton, Missouri, was found guilty Thursday of six counts, including sodomy and burglary. Prosecutors say one of the assaults happened in March 2018, just four days before he was due in court on charges that he sexually assaulted an unconscious man at a fraternity at Kansas State University. That charge is pending. Bagley graduated from Kansas State with a sociology degree in the spring of 2017. He was a graduate student at UMSL before he was expelled in October 2017. His attorney, Joslyn Anthony, says Bagley maintains his innocence and is disappointed with the verdict.
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Douglas County DA Seeks to Erase Old Arrest Warrants
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Douglas County District Attorney's Office wants to purge thousands of old arrest warrants in a special sweep. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that District Attorney Charles Branson announced Wednesday that he filed a motion for a court order to erase roughly 2,430 warrants in criminal and traffic cases that are more than a decade old. Branson says most of the offenses were misdemeanors or failure to appear cases. He says the warrants also involve individuals who haven't been in the criminal justice system for quite some time. Branson says the warrants might be creating barriers to employment and housing opportunities. He says the cases "clog the criminal justice system and require valuable time and expense to maintain." Branson says these resources can go toward more pressing investigations.
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Local Kansas Health Department Warns of Fake STD Notifications
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A health department in southwest Kansas says a prankster spoofed its number to falsely notify people that they may have contracted a sexually transmitted disease. The Finney County Health Department said in a Facebook post that the calls are "NOT FROM US!" The post says the department would never discuss private health information in recordings and would always ask permission to discuss sensitive health information over the phone. The department says the call consists of someone informing residents that they've been identified as possibly having a sexually transmitted disease or as having contact with someone who has an STD.
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Kansas Senate Passes New GOP Tax Relief Plan
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has approved a new tax relief bill aimed at helping individuals and businesses who are paying more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws. The vote Thursday night was 27-13 on a plan drafted by GOP negotiators for the House and Senate. It is less than half the size of a tax relief bill that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed in March and would save taxpayers roughly $90 million during the budget year beginning in July. The House could vote on it Friday. Kelly said the state should study its entire tax system instead. Republican leaders made tax relief a priority and contend the state is receiving a "windfall" it doesn't deserve because of the federal tax changes at the end of 2017.
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Kansas Senate OKs Bill Saying Child Victims Can't be the "Aggressor" in Child Sex Abuse Cases
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has approved a bill that would prevent judges from lowering sentences for child sex offenders if they think the victims were willing participants in the crime. The bill approved Wednesday comes after a Leavenworth County judge in February reduced the sentence for 67-year-old Raymond Soden because he thought the 13- and 14-year-old girls involved in the case were "aggressors." The Kansas City Star reports current state law allows judges discretion in sentencing for "substantial or compelling" reasons. The new bill prohibits judges from reducing sentences if a victim is a participant or aggressor in a sexually violent crime or electronic solicitation when the victim is under 14 and the offender is 18 or older. The House approved the bill earlier and it now goes to Governor Laura Kelly.
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Family Sues over Death After Altercation at Kansas City VA
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The family of a veteran who died after an altercation with Veterans Affairs police at the Kansas City VA Medical Center has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. The Kansas City Star reports that three children of Dale Farhner sued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. The suit says Farhner went to the VA facility in May 2018 for emergency treatment of a post-surgical infection of a wound from a hernia operation performed at the hospital days earlier. Officers approached him when he drove the wrong way on a one-way driveway leading to the emergency room entrance. The officers then got into a physical altercation with Farhner, who died two days later. The medical center has declined to provide The Star documents, audio and video relating to Farhner's death.
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Kansas Authorities Find Drugs Valued at $9 Million in Car
MAPLE HILL, Kan. (AP) — Northeast Kansas officials say they found drugs worth about $9 million after a police dog alerted them to the presence of narcotics. The Wabaunsee County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that a driver with a suspended license was stopped Wednesday in Maple Hill. After the K-9, named Karma, alerted to the vehicle, the driver was arrested and the vehicle was impounded. The sheriff's office says a search found two bags containing several hundred pills and 10 wrapped bundles. The pills are believed to be fentanyl and the bundles apparently are heroin or methamphetamine mixed with fentanyl. The suspect's name has not been released.
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Forecast: Kansas Growers May Harvest More Winter Wheat
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Participants in the annual winter wheat tour are forecasting that Kansas farmers will harvest 306.5 million bushels this season. The Wheat Quality Council said in a news release that the three-day tour wrapped up Thursday after participants gathered information from 469 fields across Kansas. The group calculated average yields of 47.2 bushels an acre. Kansas growers planted about 7 million acres of wheat last fall. Tour scouts report that wheat planted before the October rains generally looks good now. Wheat planted when farmers could get back in fields after the rains is not faring as well. They say the wheat is behind schedule, with most areas a week to 10 days behind normal development. Kansas farmers harvested 277 million bushels last season with average yields of 38 bushels an acre.
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Kansas Services Set for Woman Shot While Driving in Iowa
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A former college softball player fatally shot while driving in eastern Iowa will be memorialized Friday at a funeral Mass in her Kansas hometown. Micalla Alexis Rettinger was shot early Sunday morning as she drove over a wooded area along the Cedar River in Waterloo. The 25-year-old former University of Northern Iowa softball player pulled over along U.S. Highway 218 and died. The bullet also struck one of her passengers: her 32-year-old boyfriend, Adam Kimball. He was hospitalized and the bullet was recovered. At least $58,000 has been offered as a reward for information leading to an arrest. The Mass is scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm Today (FRI) at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Lenexa, Kansas. She had been living in Waterloo since graduating in 2016 from the university.
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Undersheriff Who Was Shot Returns to Kansas Home
STERLING, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas undersheriff is out of the hospital after being shot Monday by a man who also shot a sheriff and then killed his father before killing himself. Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans said Undersheriff Chad Murphy was released Friday from a Wichita hospital. He returned to Sterling with a police escort as crowds lined the streets to cheer him. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says Murphy was shot Monday while trying to stop a car driven by 37-year-old David Madden in Sterling. Sheriff Evans was shot in the leg during a later standoff at Madden's father's home in Raymond. Authorities believe Madden fatally shot his father, 65-year-old Thomas Madden, and then died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Madden was a suspect in the 2015 disappearance of Megan Foglesong, who is still missing.
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Kansas Military School Moves to Keep Property from Founder
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An embattled Kansas military school amended its incorporation document to remove the Episcopalian church that founded it from getting the property once the school shuts down. The amendment that came nearly seven months before the school announced its plans to close was revealed when the document recently became public. It was brought up in an alumni group's social media posting. The document raises questions at a time when supporters are working to keep St. John's Military School open in Salina. The Episcopalian boarding school announced in February it planned to shut down after its May 11 commencement. The 131-year-old school said education has changed dramatically, resulting in lower enrollment and unsustainable higher costs. Military schools nationwide have been closing their doors amid declining revenues and falling enrollments.
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New York Giants Coach Says Draft Pick Ballentine Shot in Buttocks
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Giants want sixth-round draft pick Corey Ballentine to take as long as he needs to get full closure after the shooting incident that wounded him and killed Washburn University teammate Dwane Simmons last weekend. Speaking Friday after the completion of the first day of a rookie minicamp, Giants coach Pat Shurmur said Ballentine needs to take care of himself before joining the team, adding the NFL club will help him any way it can. Ballentine and Simmons were shot Saturday at an off-campus party at the Topeka, Kansas, school, just hours after Ballentine was drafted. Shurmur disclosed Friday Ballentine was shot in the buttocks. He was treated and released from a hospital on Sunday.
"It was very unfortunate, he was the victim of a crime," Shurmur said. "That can happen to any of us. We're here for him, certainly with what he is going through with the vigils and funeral, and the things he has to go through. We are here to support him as he comes back to us. We're just here for him."
A funeral for Simmons of Lee's Summit, Missouri, is scheduled for Saturday. Shurmur called Ballentine a great young man who he got to know through the draft process. He added the defensive back trained with his son, Kyle, a Vanderbilt quarterback, at the same facility. Shurmur said he has not seen Ballentine since the shooting. The Giants told the cornerback to skip the current minicamp which ends on Saturday. The next time the rookies will be here would a week from Monday.
"This is a unique situation," Shurmur said. "We want him to get full closure on this and we're sensitive to that. This is a real-life situation. We want him to make sure he gets full closeure. It's May. We play in September. We want to sure he gets done on that end what he needs to and he gets the help that he need."
