Judge Rules for Kobach on Voter Registration
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has cleared the way for Secretary of State Kris Kobach to use a dual voting system to enforce the state's proof-of-citizenship for new voters. Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis denied the American Civil Liberties Union's request for a preliminary injunction to stop Kobach from implementing a new policy. Under that policy, Kansans who used a national form to register without providing proof of citizenship will be able to complete full ballots in the August 5 primary — but only their votes in U.S. House and Senate will be counted. Voters who registered using the Kansas state form without providing proof of citizenship will have none of their ballots counted. The national registration form does not require documentation of citizenship.
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Kansas Records Death from Rare Infection
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say a person from the Kansas City area has died of a rare infection caused by an amoeba that lives in freshwater lakes and rivers. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday it's only the state's second known case of a person contracting primary amoebic meningoencephalitis or "PAM." The agency identified the person who died as a resident of Johnson County but did not give other details. Officials said the person had been exposed to several bodies of fresh water in Kansas. PAM is typically contracted when the amoeba enters the nose of someone diving or swimming underwater and travels to the brain. The infection is not contagious among people. It cannot be contracted from a properly maintained swimming pool.
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Huelskamp Loses Support of Farm Groups
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican congressman from the sprawling 1st Congressional District of western and central Kansas has lost the support of the state's two major farm groups in the GOP primary. Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association refused yesterday (FRI) to endorse Tim Huelskamp for re-election. Both groups endorsed GOP incumbents in other U.S. House and Senate primaries. But they made no endorsements in the 1st District, where Huelskamp is challenged by Alan LaPolice. Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus says the endorsements represent the feelings of county Farm Bureaus. Baccus criticized Huelskamp's votes against the Farm Bill and his opposition to repairs to locks and dams on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers needed to transport agricultural goods. He also cited Huelskamp's refusal to vote for the appropriations bill for a new bio-security lab in Manhattan.
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Fleeing Driver Pleads Guilty in Fatal Crash
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a woman whose car was hit by his vehicle during a police chase. Christopher Stewart, of Kansas City, Kansas, was initially charged with first-degree murder for the February 17 collision. The Wyandotte County district attorney's office says he pleaded guilty to the reduced charge and to eluding a police officer yesterday (FRI). Authorities said Stewart was fleeing from police when he ran a stop sign and collided with a car driven by 62-year-old Graciela Olivas, pushing it into a ditch. The Kansas City, Kansas, woman died later at a hospital. Police had begun chasing Stewart's vehicle after seeing him commit two traffic violations while leaving an area of the city known for drug activity.
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Police Identify 2 Victims in Triple Shooting
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Lenexa police have identified the two men shot to death in a suburban Kansas City home but few other details about the shootings are being released. Police say the men who died were 47-year-old Brian Baskind and 79-year-old Clifford Preston. They were found dead Wednesday night after police were called to the home by a man who said he had been shot. Officers found the caller outside the home with a gunshot wound, and the two men dead inside the house. Police have not released the relationship between the three men. The wounded man's name has not been publicized.
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Inmate Convicted in Salina Murder Dies in Prison
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A state prison inmate who was in prison for killing a 15-year-old Salina girl in 1984 has died. Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay says 72-year-old Lonnie McKibben died of natural causes on Saturday at the Lansing Correctional Facility. He was serving 30 years to life in prison for shooting Sheleen McLain in the back and leaving her to die in bitter cold in November 1984. The Salina Journal reports that McKibben was scheduled for his fifth parole hearing in October. A former classmate of McLain's, Kerry Bettes of Abilene, said she was in the process of collecting signatures on petitions to advocate keeping McKibben in prison. She had collected signatures four previous times that McKibben came up for parole.