No Arrests in Killing of Topeka Athlete, Wounding of NFL Draftee
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — No arrests have been made in a Kansas shooting that killed a Washburn University football player and wounded a former player who was drafted by the New York Giants just hours earlier. Police in Topeka, where the university is located, said earlier today (MON) that they had no new information to release. Yesterday (SUN), officers found 23-year-old defensive back Dwane Simmons dead while investigating gunshots. Cornerback Corey Ballentine was wounded, but his injuries aren't believed to be life-threatening. Ballentine was picked by the Giants on Saturday in the sixth round of the NFL draft. Police spokeswoman Gretchen Koenen said in an email that the shooting happened during a social gathering and that dozens of people were there at the time. Koenen says police are gathering witness statements.
(earlier reporting)
Shooting Kills College Football Player in Topeka, Injures Giants' Draft Pick
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka police are investigating a shooting that killed one current Washburn University football player and injured a former player just hours after he was drafted by the New York Giants. Topeka police say officers found 23-year-old defensive back Dwane Simmons dead when they investigated gunshots shortly before 1 am Sunday. Washburn coach Craig Schurig says Simmons' death is heartbreaking. He says the junior from Lee's Summit, Missouri, maintained a great attitude even while battling through two knee injuries. Cornerback Corey Ballentine is the wounded player who was picked by the Giants in the sixth round of the NFL draft Saturday. The 23-year-old grew up in Topeka, where Washburn is located. Police said Ballentine's injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, but it's not yet clear how they might affect his football career.
This story has been corrected to show that Simmons' first name was Dwane, not Dwayne.
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UPDATE: Ballentine Will Attend Giants Minicamp
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The New York Giants say cornerback Corey Ballentine, who was shot Sunday in Topeka, Kansas, is recovering and will join the team for its minicamp this weekend. Ballentine was injured and his friend, Dwane Simmons, was killed while attending a party hours after Ballentine was drafted Saturday by the Giants in the sixth round. Police have said people inside a car pulled up to the home and, after exchanging words, shot Ballentine and Simmons, who were teammates on the Washburn University football team. Giants general manager Dave Gettleman told SiriusXM NFL radio Monday that the team spoke to Ballentine Sunday and he was "coming along fine." He said Ballentine is expected to join the Giants Thursday for the team minicamp this weekend.
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Police Chief: 2 Players 'in Wrong Place at Wrong Time'
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka police Chief Bill Cochran says Washburn University football teammates Dwane Simmons and Corey Ballentine were "in the wrong place at the wrong time" when they were shot at an off-campus house party. Simmons died in the early Sunday shooting. Ballentine, whom the New York Giants drafted hours before the shooting, suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Simmons and Ballentine were among about 50 people at the party. The chief says many people, including Simmons and Ballentine, went outside after a disturbance occurred inside the home. A car pulled up and exchanged words with people before the shooting began. Cochran says the shooting and the earlier altercation don't appear to have been linked. A candlelight vigil for Simmons is scheduled for Tuesday on the Washburn campus.
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Slain Player's Dad Calls Crime 'Senseless'
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The father of a Washburn University football player who was killed in a weekend shooting in which a New York Giants draft pick was wounded says the crime "shattered a lot of people." The Kansas City Star reports that Navarro Simmons described the death of his son, Dwane Simmons, as "senseless." The 23-year-old defensive back from Lee's Summit, Missouri, was killed early Sunday at an off-campus party in Topeka, Kansas, where the school is located. Navarro Simmons says the family learned from detectives that his son and his son's friend and teammate, cornerback Corey Ballentine, were about to leave the party when a vehicle pulled up. He says the people inside asked a question and then started shooting. The university says Ballentine is expected to make a full recovery. The Giants drafted him in the sixth round on Saturday.
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Ex-Topeka Correctional Employee Charged with Abusing Inmates
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors say a former Topeka Correctional dental instructor has been charged with inappropriate conduct with female inmates. The Kansas Department of Corrections said Friday that Shawnee County officials charged Tomas Co with seven counts of unlawful sexual relations. Co supervised inmate training in a program that taught inmates to make dentures. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports each charge against Co involves a different inmate in incidents that allegedly occurred between 2014 and 2018. The newspaper said documents it obtained show the corrections department was made aware of the alleged sexual misconduct more than two years ago. State and federal auditors recommended Co be fired but he continued to work until he was placed on administrative leave in November 2018. Co was arrested in Oklahoma and booked into jail there April 8 as a fugitive from justice.
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Kansas Took over 22 Struggling Nursing Homes in 2018
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have tightened the financial requirements for a license to operate nursing homes after state regulators were forced to take over 22 struggling facilities last year. Officials with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services told The Kansas City Star they had no choice but to step in because nursing home managers had fallen behind on bills for basics like food and utilities, putting the health and safety of residents at risk. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed a package of health care legislation this month requested by Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's administration that will require much more financial information from people who apply for nursing home licenses. "It gives us a better opportunity to maybe know in advance if somebody coming in is maybe in financial difficulties," said Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee. Fifteen of the 22 homes the state had to take over last year were run by Skyline Health, a company owned by a family of investors and headquartered above a pizza parlor in New Jersey.
The Star reported last year that when Kansas issued the 15 licenses to Skyline in 2016, the company had already missed payments to vendors for laundry, housekeeping and food for its facilities in other states. Skyline owed almost $2 million when it was granted its Kansas licenses, according to a lawsuit filed by one of the vendors. At the time, the state required applicants to provide financial statements showing they had enough cash or equity to meet at least one month's operating expenses.
Under the new law, nursing home applicants must furnish a detailed budget for the first 12 months of operation, which matches Missouri law. They must also document that they have enough working capital to carry out that budget, and they must provide a list of all other nursing homes in the U.S. or abroad where they have ever had an ownership stake. It also streamlines the legal process for the state to take receivership of nursing homes, which requires a court order.
Mitzi McFatrich, the executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, said she thinks the Kelly administration may seek more reforms in the future, but wanted to get a bill passed quickly this spring to address some of the problems that caused last year's unprecedented situation.
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22 Calls Made to 911 About Kansas Home Where 2-Year-Old Died
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — At least 22 emergency 911 calls were made about what was happening in a Wichita home before a 2-year-old was found dead there and the toddler's 4-month-old brother severely injured. The Wichita Eagle reports that Wichita police found Zaiden Javonovich dead on April 11. Police say his body was facedown and bound in his crib. The affidavit unsealed Thursday said Zaiden weighed just under 15 pounds and had cuts on his face consistent with someone pushing his head down into something. His baby brother had broken ribs and a bruised head. Most of the calls came from Zaiden's mother, 22-year-old Brandi Marchant, and his father, 28-year-old Patrick Javonovich. They are charged with felony murder and child abuse. But Zaiden's grandmother also called seeking help for the children.
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Kansas City Man Gets Life in Prison for Wife's 2017 Death
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City man convicted of killing his wife, whose body was found by the couple's 7-year-old daughter, has been sentenced to life in prison. The Kansas City Star reports that 46-year-old Benjamin Byers was sentenced Friday in Jackson County for the 2017 stabbing death of 47-year-old Melissa Byers. Byers was convicted in March of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child endangerment. Police say Byers' daughter reported to a school counselor that her father had been acting "weird," and had picked her up from school the day before. When they arrived home, the girl said there was a lot of blood in the house and that she later found her mother's body in the basement. The girl told the counselor she said nothing to her father, because she "didn't want to be next."
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Kansas Constitution Tops U.S. on Abortion Rights
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court says the state constitution's protections for abortion rights are stronger than those offered by the U.S. Constitution. The court declared for the first time Friday that the Kansas Constitution protects abortion rights. It says the state's Bill of Rights grants a right to personal autonomy that gives a woman a right to end her pregnancy. But the court's majority went further. It said in Kansas, abortion restrictions face strict scrutiny when determining whether they violate the state constitution. The court said the state must have a compelling interest behind a restriction and keep them narrowly written. The majority said that is a higher standard than the U.S. Supreme Court's rule that restrictions cannot place an undue burden on a woman's ability to obtain an abortion.
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2 Men Shot Less than Block from Wichita Police Station
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Investigators in Wichita are investigating the shooting of two people less than a block from a police station. The Wichita Eagle reports that police were called just after 7 p.m. Friday for a report of shots fired in the area of Pawnee and Market. Arriving officers found two injured men in a house just down the street from the police station. Both were rushed to a hospital, one in critical condition and the other in serious condition. The victims' names have not been released. Police say the injured men, ages 29 and 31, were the only two involved in the shooting. Police say they "the two people in the residence know what happened," and want to speak to them to determine what led to the shooting.
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Pittsburg State Students Develop Sustainable Food System
PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Pittsburg State University students are experimenting with developing a sustainable food production system that can grow plants without soil while also raising fish. The Joplin Globe reports that the group is working with the university's biology department and Enactus, a nonprofit that encourages entrepreneurship. Hydroponics is growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water. The students say they're growing arugula, red kale, romaine, collard greens and butter lettuce in a garden built from PVC pipes. The rooftop greenhouse plants are covered with mosquito netting to diffuse sunlight. Enactus donated a hydroponic prototype to the project. The prototype was also used to establish a hydroponics operation at a Haitian orphanage. Fish will soon arrive for use in the Pittsburg food production system and their waste will provide nutrients for the plants.
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Upgrades to Home of Negro Leagues Museum in KC Moves Forward
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City is preparing to restore the building where the Negro National League was founded. The Kansas City Star reports the effort to upgrade the building near the 18th and Vine Jazz District comes just months before the 100th anniversary of the league's founding. The Kansas City Council on Thursday fast-tracked an ordinance to take over the Buck O'Neil Research and Education Center. The building was known as the Paseo YMCA when independent baseball team owners met there in 1920 to establish what became the Negro Leagues. Under the ordinance, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum will donate the building to the city, which will spend $1 million from its one-cent sales tax for public improvements and more than $283,000 in state tax credits to restore the basement and ground level.
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Wichita State to Cut Funds After Student Fee Increase Idea Gets Voted Down
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita State University says it will cut about $1.5 million a year and reallocate funds to help pay for a new School of Business building. The decision comes after students voted last month against doubling a campus infrastructure fee all students pay. It would have raised an estimated $38.5 million. The Wichita Eagle reports Provost Richard Muma said the cuts from the general use budget will be enough to make an annual payment on a $20 million bond. The remaining $30 million needed for the Frank Barton School of Business building will come from private gifts to the WSU Foundation. The university said it will reduce funds for the School of Business, the Division of Academic Affairs, the Office of Research and Technology Transfer, other divisions and Athletics.
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Kansas Man Sentenced for Not Paying Employment Taxes
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 62-year-old Kansas man has been sentenced to three years of probation — including eight months of home detention — for not paying payroll taxes to the government. Federal prosecutors said David Monhollon, of Ozawkie, was sentenced Thursday for failing to pay payroll taxes. He also was ordered to pay $68,000 in restitution and a $3,000 fine. Monhollon owned First Call Medical Group, which provided medical staffing services to health care providers. In his plea, Monhollon admitted he didn't pay a total of $68,261 for seven quarters of the company's payroll taxes. He said he knew the taxes were due but spent the money on other things.
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Chicago Photographer Draws Inspiration from Kansas Prairies
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A photographer from Kansas City keeps trying to capture the prairie life that first inspired her to take her camera to vantage points above ground. KCUR-FM reports that Chicago-based Terry Evans has her photography on display through June in an exhibit called "The Power of Place" at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence. Evans found her love for landscapes after she began taking pictures for the Land Institute in Salina, where scientists were working on sustainability efforts by studying the self-sufficient prairie ecosystem. Evans says she believed that if she could understand the prairie, the whole universe would reveal itself to her. Evans spent last winter photographing a single oak tree on the South Side of Chicago. She says "the Oak Savannah is the ecosystem that is the transition between prairie and forest."
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Conservationist Warns of Missouri's Disappearing Prairie
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A conservation expert says Missouri's prairies are disappearing and the loss is hurting the state's ecosystem. Carol Davit is executive director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. Davit tells KCUR-FM that prairies are rich in nutrients, serving as a natural habitat for pollinators that fertilize crops. She says further destruction of prairies would reduce pollinators' ability to thrive, which could affect food security in the state. Davit is pushing to protect prairies from the development projects and agriculture efforts that have been plowing them down. She says restoring the grasslands could be beneficial as Missouri grapples with severe flooding this spring. Prairie vegetation can absorb substantial amounts of stormwater, as well as reduce soil erosion. Davit is calling for the planting of more native vegetation to restore some of the prairie's ecological functions.
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