Fire Ravages Downtown Topeka Warehouse, Damages Apartments
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fire officials in Topeka are investigating what caused a massive fire that tore through a downtown warehouse. The fire was reported Wednesday evening at the Trails Market and Gallery, and firefighters battled the flames into early Thursday morning. All that remains of the warehouse is an empty brick shell. No injuries were reported. The Topeka Capital-Journal says the fire spread to the Kansas Avenue Lofts, which opened only months ago. Firefighters say the blaze scorched the northeast end of the four-floor apartment building, but there was no indication early Thursday that the fire had gotten inside the lofts. There were no immediate damage estimates from the fire. Fire investigators from both the city and state planned to begin the process Thursday morning of determining how and where the fire started.
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"Devastating" - Governor Describes Tornado Damage After Aerial Tour of Northeast Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR / AP) — "Devastating." That's how Kansas Governor Laura Kelly described the damage caused by Tuesday's massive tornado. Kelly took an aerial tour of northeast Kansas Thursday to survey the widespread destruction in Douglas and Leavenworth counties. She was joined by the state director of emergency management, Major General Lee Tafanelli. After the tour, the governor and the general spoke to reporters. General Taffanelli said flooding caused by recent heavy rains remains a concern for state officials. ( Listen to highlights of Thursday's news conference.) Kelly says she felt "incredibly overwhelmed" after seeing the devastation left by the EF-4 tornado. Kelly also viewed tornado damage from the ground. She said the fact that there were no fatalities was amazing. The tornado touched down south of Lawrence about 6:15 Tuesday and continued northeast for more than 31 miles before lifting in Leavenworth County. Douglas County officials said the storm injured 17 people, three of them seriously, and damaged more than 60 homes. The tornado at its peak had wind speeds of 170 mph and was a mile wide at times.
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Central Kansas Flooding Closes Roads, Threatens Golf Course
STERLING, Kan. (AP) — Roads are closed in central Kansas and a community is in danger of losing much of its golf course because of continued flooding. Officials said flooding remains a concern across Kansas because of severe storms that moved through the state earlier in the week and spawned a large tornado in northeast Kansas. Rice County Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Klein said the Arkansas River is out of its banks and there is flooding along Cow Creek. He said floodwaters are flowing through the Sterling Country Club and, "They're going to lose part of their golf course." He said most of the dirt roads and many of the blacktop roads in the southern part of the county remain closed. A portion of Kansas 14 south of Sterling also was closed.
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Kansas Music Festival Moves to Topeka over Flooding Concerns
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A three-day Kansas country music festival scheduled for June has moved from a state park outside Manhattan to the Topeka area because of concerns about flooding. The Country Stampede announced its move Friday. Organizers said they were unsure of the safety of its original location at Tuttle Creek State Park because of recent severe weather. The festival will be held at Heartland Park, a motorsports park south of Topeka. The dates of the festival remain June 20-22. Areas across the state have seen flooding because of heavy rains in recent weeks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the Tuttle Creek Lake is close to full and it is releasing 27,500 cubic feet of water per second to keep water levels manageable.
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Soggy Fields Leave Midwestern farmers with Few Good Answers
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Midwestern farmers are enduring a spring like no other and are facing difficult choices in the coming weeks. Most of the nation's corn and soybeans are grown in the Midwest, and the region's farmers have struggled for years with low prices, which got even worse due to a trade dispute between the U.S. and China. This spring's seemingly endless storms have compounded their problems, keeping many farmers from being able to plant their crops. President Donald Trump promised $16 billion in aid, but that has added to farmers' confusion about how to approach this strange spring because details about the payments won't be released until later. Jeff Jorgenson, a farmer from southwestern Iowa, says these weighty decisions are on his mind "24 hours a day."
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Residents Seek Shelter After River Floods Homes
FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — Temporary shelters are housing hundreds of residents who have lost their homes in flooding along the swollen Arkansas River. Thomas Lindley was waiting out the flooding Thursday at a Red Cross Shelter in Fort Smith, Arkansas' second-largest city. Floodwaters have submerged his home in nearby Moffett, Oklahoma. Lindley says floodwaters had reached the roof of his home when he evacuated three days ago. Lindley says he doesn't have flood insurance and hopes to find relief aid and a job to recover. Floodwaters forced Kenny Ward from a tent he was living in along the banks of an Arkansas River tributary. The former Marine says he walked around for five days after his tent and all of his possessions were inundated. He says he then helped other residents fill sandbags to protect their homes from flooding.
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Kansas Music Festival Moves to Topeka over Flooding Concerns
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A three-day Kansas country music festival scheduled for June has moved from a state park outside Manhattan to the Topeka area because of concerns about flooding. The Country Stampede announced its move Friday. Organizers said they were unsure of the safety of its original location at Tuttle Creek State Park because of recent severe weather. The festival will be held at Heartland Park, a motorsports park south of Topeka. The dates of the festival remain June 20-22. Areas across the state have seen flooding because of heavy rains in recent weeks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the Tuttle Creek Lake is close to full and it is releasing 27,500 cubic feet of water per second to keep water levels manageable.
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Kelly's Choice to Head Department of Corrections Rebuked by Idaho Judge
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly's choice to be the next head of the Kansas prison system was criticized earlier this year by a judge in Idaho, where he is a top corrections official. The Wichita Eagle reports that the state-court judge in Idaho concluded that Jefferey Zmuda gave "disingenuous" testimony in a lawsuit over access to execution records. Zmuda is deputy director of Idaho's prison system. Kelly announced his appointment as Kansas corrections secretary last week, effective July 1. Over the past year, Zmuda has been entangled in a lawsuit in Idaho aimed at forcing the release of records relating to inmate executions in 2011 and 2012. Idaho officials kept finding more documents over the past year, prompting the judge's statement in a March ruling. Kelly's office is standing behind Zmuda.
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Schools, Businesses Grapple with Schools' Computer Education
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas leaders in business, education and politics are grappling with how to update curriculums in the state's schools to teach students computer science that prepares them for how technology is changing the world. Kansas News Service reports making those changes is slowed by several obstacles, including whether learning computer science would reduce time for students to learn traditional science subjects such as evolution, trigonometry or physics. Rep. Steve Huebert is an engineer who is chairman of the Kansas House education committee. He says schools should consider allowing students to swap computer sciences for another science or math course to count toward graduation. The education committee heard a bill to do that during the last session but no action was taken. The topic is expected to come up again next year.
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Kansas Dance Team Mom Dismissed from Discrimination Lawsuit
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman has been dismissed from an ongoing lawsuit alleging a member of a high school dance team was dismissed because of racial discrimination. Katie Porter was named in a lawsuit filed in January by Camille Sturdivant, a former member of the Blue Valley Northwest Dazzler dance team. Porter's daughter was on the team. Sturdivant alleged she was ostracized from team events after she reported racial discrimination by dance coach Carley Fine and choreographer Kevin Murakimi. The district fired Fine after the allegations were raised. The lawsuit alleged Porter participated in excluding Sturdivant because of her race. The Kansas City Star reports court documents show a federal judge dismissed the claims against Porter Thursday. The judge on Thursday denied a similar motion for dismissal filed by Fine.
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Wichita Doctor to Pay Nearly $6 Million Settlement for False Billings
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Wichita cardiologist has agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle claims that he and his medical group improperly billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary cardiac stent procedures. The Justice Department said in a news release Thursday that Joseph Galichia and his medical group, Galichia Medical Group, also agreed to be banned for three years from participation in any federal health care program, such as Medicaid and Medicare. Prosecutors say Galichia and his group knowingly submitted false billings from 2008 through 2014 for surgically implanted coronary stents that were not medically necessary. The billings were submitted to Medicare, the Defense Health Agency, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The Justice Department says it's the government's third such settlement with Galichia and his medical group since 2000.
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Wyandotte County Repeals Pit Bull Ban
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Wyandotte County leaders have voted to end the county's 29-year-old ban on pit bulls. Fox4KC reports that the Unified Government's Board of Commissioners voted 6-3 Thursday evening to repeal the ban, which had prohibited ownership of breeds including Staffordshire bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers or dogs with characteristics of those breeds. The county joins other cities, including Liberty, Missouri, and Eudora and Roeland Park, Kansas, which have repealed bans in recent years. Anyone who violated the ban before Thursday night's vote could have been fined up to $1,000 or been sent to jail for up to 90 days.
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12-Year-Old Kansas City Boy Shot While Riding Four-Wheeler
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police are investigating the shooting of a 12-year-old boy who was riding four-wheelers with an adult relative Thursday evening. The Kansas City Star reports that the boy was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in stable condition Thursday night. Police Officer Thomas Tomasic said the boy was shot in the stomach and the adult was grazed by a bullet.
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Trump to Award Medal of Freedom to Conservative Economist
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to economist Arthur Laffer. Laffer is known as the father of supply side economics, which gained popularity under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. His theory, the "Laffer Curve," establishes the concept that lower tax rates spur economic growth, jobs and investment. A number of economists disagree and do not believe that cutting taxes spurs growth. In 2012, he advised Kansas to slash taxes for the state's top earners to jump-start its economy. Instead, the state ran up significant deficits. The 78-year-old Laffer has been supportive of the president and co-wrote a book titled "Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy." The medal is the nation's highest civilian honor. It will be awarded June 19.
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Kansas Cattle Sale Barn's Owners Indicted on Fraud Charges
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The owners of a northwest Kansas cattle sale barn have been charged with bank fraud over what federal prosecutors say was a check-kiting scheme that cost banks millions of dollars. KAKE-TV reports that Plainville Livestock Commission owners Tyler Gillum and his wife, Camden, face 31 counts of bank fraud in federal court. They also are charged with one count of making a false statement to the federal Small Business Administration in applying for a $1.5 million loan and one count of making a false statement to the Almena State Bank in seeking a $500,000 credit line. A federal grand jury in Topeka issued an indictment Wednesday alleging that the couple defrauded banks in Kansas, Colorado and Texas. The Plainville Livestock Commission's telephone listing is no longer in service.
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Former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback to be Honored for Work as Religious Freedom Envoy
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback will be honored for his work as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The Kansas City Star reports that the Hindu American Foundation plans to give Brownback its Mahatma Gandhi Award for Advancing Pluralism. The foundation said Thursday that the award recognizes individuals or institutions that foster America's "inclusive and pluralistic character." It is named for the Indian leader whose commitment to nonviolent resistance became a model for the U.S. civil rights movement. The foundation praised Brownback's advocacy for Hindu minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim majority nations. President Donald Trump nominated Brownback to the ambassadorship in July 2017, but Brownback wasn't confirmed by the U.S. Senate until January 2018. He faced strong opposition from Democrats because of his record of opposing LGBT rights.
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Kansas Senator Suffers Ankle Injury While Hiking in Arizona
PHOENIX (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran's office says the 65-year-old has suffered an ankle injury while hiking on a mountain in Phoenix. Moran spokeswoman Morgan Said (sy-EED') said the Republican injured his ankle Thursday morning while doing a workout on Camelback Mountain, a popular hiking spot. The Phoenix Fire Department said in a statement that a 65-year-old man couldn't walk due to an injury but did not identify him by name. Firefighters used a wheeled litter to transport him off the mountain. He was then transported to a hospital for further evaluation. Said said Moran was in the Phoenix area for meetings with law enforcement officials and had to cancel them. She said he plans to return to Kansas on Friday for scheduled meetings and events.
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Big 12 Leaders: Flexibility Is Sign of Strength for Future
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Another year of increasing revenue in the Big 12 is only part of the reason league leaders believe they are well-positioned for the future.
For them, flexibility as a 10-team conference is a pretty close second to money.
"Our model has agility," said West Virginia President Gordon Gee, who is completing his two-year terms as president of the Big 12 board of directors. "And I think that right now, I'd much rather be a ballerina than an elephant. I think we are the ballerina of the five top conferences."
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby chimed in with a visual of seeing "a character in the paper of me in a tutu." But the man who helped lead the conference out of an era of instability in the extreme understood the point.
"I think our model of playing everybody in football and playing a double round-robin in basketball is the best model," Bowlsby said. "I think our one vs. two is the best playoff postseason model. I like our model better than any other one I see out there."
Big 12 revenue increased to $38.8 million per school for 2018-19, or a total of $388 million. Bowlsby said he anticipates those numbers reaching the mid-$40 million range per school before the current broadcast rights deal expires in 2024-25.
The latest increase of about 6% is the 13th straight year of a bump in Big 12 revenues. Bowlsby said the increase is about 55% over five years.
The figures announced Friday as the league wrapped up its spring meetings don't include third-tier broadcast rights, such as what Texas gets through the Longhorn Network. Those totals vary by school.
Big 12 revenue still ranks third behind the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference. The Big Ten has reportedly distributed up to $54 million to its longest-standing members, and the SEC reported payouts of $43.7 million per school. The Pac-12 surpassed $30 million for the first time this year at $31.3 million. The Atlantic Coast Conference was reportedly just shy of $30 million.
"We don't aspire to third in anything we do," Bowlsby said. "But there are some realities that come from media markets and population density and some of those kinds of things that we don't have a whole lot of control over. What's important is that we're able to generate the revenue that arms our coaches and our student-athletes, our athletic directors, with the tools that it takes to produce championship-caliber teams."
Bowlsby said he could "absolutely" see a new long-term media rights deal with the current 10-team Big 12. But he had his usual words of caution about trying to predict what could happen, including whether a new contract could replace the existing one in less than five years.
"Inside the business, outside the business, I do not believe there's anybody who can predict what it's going to look like three years from now with any measure of precision that would allow me to put a lot of money on it," Bowlsby said.
The looming expiration of TV contracts played a role in the chaotic conference realignments of nearly a decade ago. Among the Power Five leagues, the Big 12 was the closest to extinction. Bowlsby doesn't see the same dynamic in play with all the major conferences having to negotiate new contracts within the next six years.
"Most of the changes were due to trying to capture cable markets," Bowlsby said. "I think the migration is away from cable markets and toward digital consumption, streaming consumption. So I think the prime mover is probably less present now and will be less present in the future."
And Bowlsby believes the Big 12's mindset will be clear, which again traces back to it being the smallest of the Power Five leagues at the moment.
"I think what we have to do is make our league the best we can be and in doing so cause people to want to come and join us, not the other way around," he said.
Baylor received a full portion of league revenue for the first time since the Big 12 decided two years ago to withhold some money in the wake of a sexual assault scandal that led to the departures of coach Art Briles, president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw.
Bowlsby said Baylor President Linda Livingstone updated the board on several fronts, including the school's wait to hear from the NCAA over possible sanctions. Briles and the university were accused of mishandling allegations of sexual assault involving numerous football players.
"I think President Livingstone has done a tremendous job leading Baylor through a difficult time, and they're clearly making progress," Bowlsby said. "She and her staff and board leadership are to be congratulated there."
