Kansas A-G Wants to Prevent Judges from Giving Light Prison Sentences to Sex Offenders
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt wants to change state law to prevent judges from giving lighter prison sentences for adult sex offenders because a child victim is purportedly an "aggressor" in the crime. The legislation proposed today (MON) was sparked by the decision of Leavenworth County Judge Michael Gibbens to give a 67-year-old man a more lenient sentence after saying the sex abuse victims, ages 13 and 14, were partly to blame.
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Alleged Ringleader in Foiled Kansas Bomb Plot Plans Appeal
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - The alleged ringleader of a foiled plot to massacre Somali Muslims in southwest Kansas is now appealing his conviction and prison sentence. Today (MON), the attorney representing Patrick Stein filed a notice of appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Stein was among three militia members convicted of plotting in 2016 to blow up a mosque and apartments housing Somalis in Garden City. A judge last month sentenced Stein to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and 10 years for conspiracy against civil rights. The sentences will run concurrently. Stein will return to federal court on February 22 for a change-of-plea hearing and sentencing in a separate indictment alleging possession of child pornography. The material was discovered during searches in the bomb case.
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Man Falls from 3-Floor Window During Wichita Hotel Fire
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Wichita fire officials say a man suffered serious injuries when he fell from a third-floor hotel window after a fire that appeared to be intentionally set. Wichita Fire Department officials says the man was hanging from the window when firefighters arrived Sunday at a Best Western in south Wichita, but the man fell before responders could help him. The Wichita Eagle reports firefighters contained most of the fire to the room where it began. Investigators say the fire was intentionally set. The injured man was the only person in the hotel room. The fire caused $100,000 in structural damage and $25,000 in content damage.
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Plea Negotiations Stall for Sedgwick County Commissioner
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A federal judge is refusing to again delay the trial of Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O'Donnell after plea negotiations broke down. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on Monday noted O'Donnell's trial had already been postponed four times. The judge chided co-defense attorney Joshua Ney for not attending the status conference where the date was set and then waiting until two weeks before trial to ask for another continuance. Ney cited in a motion last week his heavy workload, telling the court that plea negotiations stalled on Febryary 4. The government has accused O'Donnell of fraudulently obtaining $10,500 from his campaign accounts for his personal use. An indictment charges him with 23 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. A five-day trial is set to begin February 25.
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Honeywell to Move Jobs from Wichita, Washington to Olathe
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Honeywell Aerospace is expected to close its Wichita facility and move its jobs to Olathe by the end of the year. Honeywell spokesman Scott Sayres confirmed Friday that the company will move jobs from Wichita and Renton, Washington to Olathe. He says the company's plant in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe is centrally located and has the capacity to handle more work. The jobs will move from Wichita by the end of the year and from Washington in the next 1.5 years. The Wichita Eagle report s Sayres wouldn't say how many jobs are involved, but Olathe Chamber of Commerce CEO Tim McKee said he understood it would be hundreds of jobs. Sayres said some Wichita workers will have the potential to relocate to Olathe.
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Road Crew Staffing Spotlighted in Kansas Budget Debate
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has a 100 percent annual turnover rate among entry-level equipment operators on highway maintenance crews. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has pointed to Department of Transportation staffing woes as a prime example of where she found worse-than-expected problems before she took office last month. But some Republican legislators are skeptical that KDOT faces a crisis. They believe Kelly is overstating state government's problems to push the GOP-controlled Legislature into higher spending. Kansas has had a national reputation for good highways because of its commitment to big, multi-year transportation programs since the late 1980s. But the department says it needs nearly 1,200 equipment operators to drive trucks and only 640 of those jobs are filled. KDOT officials say low pay causes many operators to leave for other jobs.
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Investigation Underway into Fatal Neosho Rapids Fire
NEOSHO RAPIDS, Kan. (AP) - Lyon County officials are investigating a fire that killed a man in Neosho Rapids. The sheriff's department says 55-year-old Daniel Lambeth died in a house fire yesterday (SUN) afternoon. The cause of death and the cause of the blaze remain unknown.
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1 Person Dead, 1 Injured in House Fire Near Great Bend
GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — Fire officials are working to determine the cause of a fatal fire in Rice County. The Hays Post reports fire crews were called to a home about 25 miles east of Great Bend late Friday. Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans says 66-year-old Beverly Boatright died at the scene. His 59-year-old wife was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Evans says the family dog also died in the fire. The home is a total loss.
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Man Gets Prison for Kansas Apartment Rapes, Burglaries
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A man found guilty of sexually assaulting and burglarizing victims at a Kansas City, Kansas, apartment complex has been sentenced to more than 33 years in prison. The Kansas City Start reports that the Wyandotte County District Attorney's office announced 36-year-old Adalberto Mata-Deras was sentenced Friday. A judge ordered lifetime post-release supervision and registration as a sex offender for Meta-Deras Mata-Deras was convicted last April of two counts of rape, aggravated sexual battery, three counts of aggravated burglary and interference with law enforcement. The case stemmed from multiple sexual assaults and burglaries reported at Woodview Apartments between August 2014 and October 2016. Prosecutors say DNA evidence linked Mata-Deras to one of the victim's apartments.
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Police: Man Killed in Rollover Crash in Southwest Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a man has died in a rollover crash in southwestern Wichita. Television station KSN reports that the crash happened around 1:30 am Saturday near Interstate 125 and West, killing 26-year-old Ernesto Flores of Wichita. Police say Flores was thrown from the vehicle after it left the roadway and entered the median. Investigators say the driver then overcorrected, causing the vehicle to roll several times.
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Rural North-Central Kansas Fire Station Destroyed by Fire
WAKEENEY, Kan. (AP) — Officials are investigating a fire that destroyed a rural north-central Kansas fire station. Television station KWCH reports that Trego County Rural Fire Station One was destroyed in a blaze Friday afternoon. Emergency responders say the fire was reported shortly after 2 p.m., when flames were seen coming from the building. The Wakeeney Fire Department and Trego County Fire Department responded. Crews were on scene until after 6 pm. No one was hurt. Firefighters were able to save all four of the station vehicles, but the building is a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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Board of Trustees Fires Lindenwood University President, Former ESU President
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — Michael Shonrock has been fired as president of Lindenwood University's flagship campus in suburban St. Louis. Shonrock's attorney confirmed Friday to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Shonrock was terminated Friday afternoon, three days after he was placed on paid administrative leave. Shonrock has said he's been given no reason for the dismissal. Art Johnson, vice chairman of the university Board of Trustees, has been named acting president. Shonrock was the president of Emporia State University in Kansas before coming to the St. Charles-based Lindenwood in June 2015, and his contract was to run through June 2020. Shonrock says he has received favorable reviews each year. The university has declined to comment on the matter. The president of Lindenwood's Belleville, Illinois, campus was placed on administrative leave in November and is no longer at the university.
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Kansas Woman Donates Part of Farm Sale Profits Back to Indian Tribe
NORTH NEWTON, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas woman who sold land that's been farmed by her family for five generations has donated a portion of the profits to help preserve the heritage of the Native American landowners more than a century before her: the Kaw Nation. Florence Schloneger tells the Wichita Eagle that she gifted $10,000 to the nonprofit Kanza Heritage Society as a way to acknowledge that her family's ownership of the McPherson County land "came at a great cost" to the Kaw, or Kanza, people. Schloneger's family owned 320 acres of prairie that was historically Kaw hunting grounds. The nonprofit's president, Jim Pepper Henry, says Schloneger's donation is a first for the tribe. Henry believes many are starting to understand the lands their families acquired over the years were swindled, coerced and even forcibly taken from the Kaw people.
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3 Veteran Journalists Named to Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Three long-time journalists have been inducted into the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame. Those inducted Friday included Rosalie Ross, founder and current co-editor of the Rawlins County Square Deal in Atwood. She worked for years at the Citizen Patriot in Atwood before she, her husband and two other couples established the Square Deal in Atwood. She was publisher for 21 years before the paper was sold. Inductee Ned Valentine is in his 50th year managing the Clay Center Dispatch, which has been owned by the Valentine family since 1882. He has also served in several leadership roles with the KPA. Doug Anstaett's 45-year career included stints at papers in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota before leading the Newton Kansan from 1987 to 2003. He was executive director of the KPA from 2004 to 2018.
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Company Donates $2 Million to Kansas for Cryptocurrency Technology
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Silicon Valley company has donated $2 million to the University of Kansas to support research related to cryptocurrency and digital payments, such as Bitcoin. The university says in a news release that the donation from Ripple will provide $400,000 each year for five years. It will go to the Information and Telecommunication Technology Center at the Kansas School of Engineering. The university will determine its own research topics and Ripple, which provides digital commerce services, will collaborate with students and faculty and provide technical resources and expertise. The gift also will support the KU Blockchain Institute, a student-led organization that promotes the use of blockchain technology. Blockchain is a digital record that is often used to track the use of cryptocurrency, or digital money.
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"BlacKkKlansman" Screenwriter to Pursue Langston Hughes Film
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas screenwriter who co-wrote Spike Lee's latest film, the Oscar-nominated "BlacKkKlansman," is setting his sights on his next project: a documentary about poet Langston Hughes. Kevin Willmott, who is also a University of Kansas film professor, tells the Lawrence Journal-World that he's making a two-part documentary on the American literary icon. The film, "I, Too, Sing America: Langston Hughes Unfurled," will delve into the life of the African-American author, who spent part of his childhood in Lawrence, grew up in the Midwest and became a leader during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. Willmott is co-directing the film with four-time Emmy winner Madison Davis Lacy, who also teaches film at the University of Kansas. The documentary is in fundraising stages, but will likely air on television.
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Missouri River Reservoirs Ready to Handle Floodwaters
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say the reservoirs along the Missouri River are ready to handle the floodwaters that are expected to flow into the system this year. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has the full flood storage space available in the reservoirs, so it is in good shape headed into the year. The amount of water being released from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be reduced again in mid-February to 17,000 cubic feet per second. The Corps' John Remus says the current forecast calls for slightly more than the normal amount of runoff this year.
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State Awards Grant to New Nursing Program at Salina Tech
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — The state has awarded the Salina Area Technical College a $210,000 grant to help with start-up costs of the college's new associate degree in nursing program. The college announced the grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce on Friday. The Kansas Board of Regents and the Kansas State Board of Nursing approved the new program in September and is awaiting approval from the Higher Learning Commission. The first class in the two-year program is expected to begin in August. The new grant made possible by a matching $170,900 grant from Salina Regional Health Center. The Salina Journal reports Salina Tech began building its nursing programs in 2016, after Brown Mackie College closed. The school started a nine-month practical nursing class in August 2018.
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Kansas Farm Bureau Recognizes 28-Year-Old Lawrence Farmer
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Farm Bureau has given an achievement award to a 28-year-old, first-generation farmer who had a profitable year by diversifying his offerings. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the bureau recognized Scott Thellman as its Young Farmer and Rancher of the Year. Bureau official Edie Doane says Thellman is unique because he doesn't fit the mold of the average young farmer working within a multigenerational family farm. Doane says it's challenging for first-generation farmers to enter the industry. Thellman owns the 50-acre Juniper Hill Farms, LLC, near Lawrence. He grows specialty crops, including lettuce, watermelon, pumpkins and winter squash and sells to local grocery stores, restaurants and the Lawrence school district. He also ships out of state. Thellman plans to add a greenhouse this year to grow tomatoes.
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National Child Abuse Hotline to Study Text Line in Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The country's top child abuse hotline is looking to Missouri for help determining how efficiently the nonprofit's new text line service is working. The Kansas City Star reports that the national child advocacy nonprofit Childhelp launched its first text line this month as part of an effort to reach more young people, who may be less comfortable or unable to report abuse over the phone. Childhelp's national director, Michelle Fingerman, says the majority of people calling the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline are adults speaking on children's behalf. Fingerman says recent informal testing of text lines shows 80 percent of users were under 18 years old. Childhelp officials plan to study what works for text line counselors in Missouri, which ranks third in the country for helpline calls made per capita.
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Missouri Bill Would Ban Drone Use Near State Prisons
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to restrict the use of drones near state prisons. The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Republican Rep. Mike Henderson introduced a bill to make it a misdemeanor for anyone to knowingly fly a drone within 300 vertical feet and near the furthest perimeter of prisons. The legislation would add felony charges for attempting to drop contraband onto state prison grounds. The move comes after Missouri Department of Corrections officials expressed fear that weapons or drugs are being dropped inside prison grounds. The department has reported 11 drone sightings near state prisons since 2016. Henderson says the proposed legislation includes exemptions so law enforcement can fly drones over the facilities. Legislators will consider the bill in the coming weeks.
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