Investigation Reveals Kansas Dams in Dangerously Poor Condition
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Nearly a century ago, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway built a large dam near Augusta to supply water for the steam locomotives that were then chugging across the dusty Kansas prairie. Now, the aging Santa Fe Lake Dam is considered a high-hazard dam because of its potential for the loss of life if it fails. An analysis by The Associated Press of dams across the country has found that it is among the dams in Kansas that are rated as high-hazard and in such poor shape that they are vulnerable to failure. A two-year investigation by The Associated Press identified at least 1,680 high hazard dams across the country that are in poor or unsatisfactory condition. Kansas has 6,205 dams, including 309 classified as high-hazard.
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Patrol: 1 Person Dies After Icy Roads Cause Crash in Kansas
OVERBROOK, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Highway Patrol reports an 8-year-old girl died in a three-vehicle wreck caused by icy roads in northeast Kansas. The patrol said the collision occurred Monday on U.S. Highway 56 near Overbrook in Osage County. The patrol reports a truck driving westbound on the highway lost control on icy roads, crossed the center line and hit a Ford pickup truck head-on, and a third vehicle rear-ended the Ford. Cassie Ralson of Scranton, who was a passenger in the Ford truck, was killed. Three other people were taken to hospitals. No names have been released. The crash came as a system carrying freezing temperatures and strong winds moved across Kansas. A few thousand customers in Wichita lost power Monday morning but no other serious accidents or injuries have been reported.
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Kansas Had 10-Year High for Deer-Related Crashes in 2018
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state transportation agency says Kansas hit a 10-year high for deer-related crashes last year. The agency says 10,734 deer-related wrecks were reported in 2018 in Kansas. The Department of Transportation says that accounted for 16.5% of total wrecks for the year. The department's big game coordinator, Levi Jaster, said the increase in crashes is partly because of an increase in the deer population. Disease reduced the population beginning in 2008 until 2013, which is when the agency recorded the lowest number of deer-related wrecks in the past 10 years. The Wichita Eagle reports the deer population has been increasing since then. Three people died in deer-related accidents last year. The highest number of deer-related wrecks in 2018 was in Sedgwick County, which had 418.
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Kansas Parks Agency to Consider Turkey Hunting Restrictions
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission will vote this week on whether to restrict turkey hunting harvest in parts of Kansas for at least two years. The commission will take up two measures Thursday in Scott City. A proposal from state biologists would reduce spring turkey tag limits to one per person and another would cancel the fall turkey season, beginning in 2020-21, for segments of the state. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the proposals would affect most of northeast Kansas; south-central Kansas and southeast Kansas. Kent Fricke, small game coordinator for wildlife agency, said the proposals are part of the agency's strategy to respond to a decade-long decline in the turkey population in Kansas.
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Record: Officer Tried to Keep Victims Quiet After Cop Threat
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Court records say an off-duty Kansas police officer who told a bar server that "I have my gun on me. I'll shoot you" was initially allowed to keep his service weapon after a responding officer urged witnesses not to press charges. The Kansas City Star obtained the records after a state agency revoked the law enforcement license for former Kansas City, Kansas, police officer Robert Ward. The 41-year-old eventually was sentenced to one year of probation for assault and possession of a firearm while under the influence after other officers raised concerns about his conduct last year at The Peanut bar in Mission. The officer who initially tried to cover for Ward no longer works for the Mission police department. Police didn't say whether that officer quit or was fired.
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Kansas National Guard Sends Helicopters to Fight Fires in Cheyenne County
SALINA, Kan. - Two Kansas Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters and eight soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment, based in Salina, Kansas, are being deployed to support firefighting operations in Cheyenne County. The helicopters are equipped with buckets which hold approximately 660 gallons of water and will be used to drop water on hot spots that are difficult for ground crews to access. Governor Laura Kelly issued a disaster declaration on Saturday for Cheyenne County due to grass fires which were sparked near the City of Saint Francis in northwest Kansas. The Kansas Division of Emergency Management, the Kansas Forest Service and the Kansas Highway Patrol are also assisting in the firefighting operations. Saint Francis is about 70 miles northwest of Colby.
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Family of Man Killed in 2017 Wichita Swatting Hoax Seeks $25 Million
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - The family of an unarmed man who was fatally shot by police while responding to a bogus emergency call is seeking $25 million in damages in a lawsuit. Recent documents filed in the lawsuit brought by Andrew Finch's family outline the damages they are seeking for his death and their pain and suffering. The 28-year-old Finch was fatally shot by police in December 2017. Officials have said that officers feared Finch was reaching for a firearm when he was shot, not knowing that a hoax caller had reported a fake homicide and hostage situation at Finch's home. The lawsuit filed by Finch's family is pending. The city has already spent nearly $250,000 to defend against the lawsuit.
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Man Arrested After Two Northeast Kansas Police Chases
SILVER LAKE, Kan. (AP) _ Authorities say a man has been arrested after a pair of police chases in northeast Kansas. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that it started when a driver fled from Shawnee County sheriff's deputies in a stolen Toyota Camry. The Camry then was found crashed early this (MON) morning in a ditch in neighboring Jackson County. Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse says no one was in the Camry. Deputies then spotted a stolen Volkswagen and suspected it was there to pick up the driver of the crashed Camry. Another pursuit began and ended with the driver rolling the car over on an icy road. The driver and passenger were treated at area hospitals before the driver was booked into jail. Morse says the Volkswagen had been reported stolen from Lawrence and the Camry from Silver Lake.
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Three Wounded in Weekend Shooting Outside Lawrence Sports Bar
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Police are investigating a shooting outside a Lawrence sports bar that left three people wounded, including the suspected gunman. The police department issued a press release Sunday saying that the shooting was reported early this morning outside the Playerz Sports Bar on the city's east side. Officers found an injured man and woman with non-life-threatening injuries in the parking lot. A suspect in the shooting fled in a car but was stopped by police a few blocks away and hospitalized with a life-threatening gunshot wound.
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Cleaver Criticizes Church Action During King Street Campaign
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri is criticizing the tactics of a group that led a successful campaign to remove Martin Luther King's name from a Kansas City street. During an appearance Sunday on MSNBC's "PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton," Cleaver was particularly upset that some "Save the Paseo" members staged a silent protest during a rally at a black church the Sunday before last week's election , which restored the name of the street to The Paseo. Cleaver, the first black mayor of Kansas City, said even the Ku Klux Klan didn't enter churches at rallies during the civil rights movement. The Kansas City Star reports Tim Smith, a black man who organized the "Save the Paseo" protest, criticized Cleaver for using racially divisive rhetoric. He said his group, which has white and black members, avoided racial arguments during the campaign.
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Driver Dies when Car Hits Wichita Utility Pole
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Wichita say a 59-year-old driver has died after his car slammed into a city utility pole. Investigators say the crash happened late Friday night when the eastbound car left the road and hit the pole. Police say when officers arrived, they found the man trapped inside the car. The man was cut out of the wreckage by firefighters but was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not released the man's name.
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Four Injured in Shooting at Adult Club in Kansas City, Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Authorities are investigating a shooting outside an adult entertainment club in northeast Kansas City, Missouri, that left four people injured. The Kansas City Star reports the shooting outside Baccala's strip club happened around 2:40 a.m. Sunday. Kansas City, Missouri, police say one victim was found in front of the club. Three others were taken to hospitals. All four were in stable condition Sunday. Officers responding to a disturbance near the club before the shooting rushed to help after shots were fired. Several suspects were arrested.
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Hit-and-Run Driver Injures Two in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Kansas City, Missouri police are searching for a hit-and-run driver who seriously injured two people and killed a dog that was walking with them. The Kansas City Star reports that police say a 28-year-old man and 41-year-old woman were either riding a bicycle or standing alongside it when they were hit Sunday on a sidewalk near an intersection. The man was listed in critical condition, while the woman was in serious but stable condition. The dog died at the scene. Police say the vehicle lost one of its front lights during the collision. No other details about the vehicle were released.
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KU Women's Soccer Team Defeats TCU to Claim Berth in the NCAA Tournament.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The University of Kansas women's soccer team claimed its first Big 12 tournament championship yesterday (SUN) afternoon with a 1-0 win over TCU. With the win, the Jayhawks won an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. Their record this season is 15-4-3. Forward Mandi Duggan's goal in the 55th minute proved to be the difference as the No. 21 Jayhawks defeated the Horned Frogs at Swope Soccer Village. Tournament officials named Jayhawk goalkeeper Sarah Peters as the event's Most Outstanding Defensive Player. The sophomore from Lee's Summit, Missouri claimed her second shutout of the tournament Sunday and ninth of the season.
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Keystone Pipeline Flow Restarts, 2 Weeks After North Dakota Leak
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Keystone pipeline has been restarted nearly two weeks after it leaked an estimated 383,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota. TC Energy says the pipeline "returned to service" Sunday after approval of a repair and restart plan by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The agency ordered the company last week to keep the pipeline shut down until corrective action was taken, including sending an affected portion of the pipe to an independent laboratory for testing. State regulators say the leak that was reported on Oct. 29 affected about 22,500 square feet of land near Edinburg. The cause of the leak has not been disclosed. The company says about 285,600 gallons of crude oil has been recovered.
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Kansas City Chiefs Lose Close Game to Tennessee Titans.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes returned to action for the Chiefs on Sunday but they ended up stunned by a 35-32 loss to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. For the second straight week, the Chiefs attempted a field goal as time ran out. This one would have tied the game but it was blocked. Coach Andy Reid says he was disappointed in the loss but says he is relieved that Mahomes didn't re-injure his knee. The Chiefs have fallen to 6-4 this season and play their next game on November 18 in Mexico City against the Los Angeles Chargers.
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Kentucky New No. 1 in AP Top 25: KU Sits at No. 5
Kentucky is back in a familiar position under head coach John Calipari: No. 1 in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll. Duke climbed two spots to No. 2 after winning a top-4 matchup against Kansas at the Classic. The Blue Devils were ranked second on 48 ballots, third on 13 more and no lower than fifth on any ballot. The Spartans were No. 1 in the AP preseason poll for the first time in program history entering the Kentucky game but fell to third, followed by Louisville — which claimed the remaining first-place vote — and Kansas. North Carolina, Maryland, Gonzaga, reigning national champion Virginia and Villanova rounded out the top 10.
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KPR's daily headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. KPR's weekend summary is usually published by 1 pm Saturdays and Sundays.
