Statistician Garners Support for Voting Machine Suit
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita mathematician seeking to audit voting machine tapes after finding statistical anomalies in election counts is getting legal and other support in pursuing her lawsuit. Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson had been pursuing the case herself, but now has a Wichita lawyer representing her. Other people have set up a non-profit foundation for donations. A Sedgwick County judge is expected to set filing deadlines and a trial date at a Monday hearing. Clarkson has analyzed election returns in Kansas and elsewhere over several elections that indicate "a statistically significant" pattern where the percentage of Republican votes increase the larger the size of the precinct. The pattern could indicate election fraud. Her attorney, Randy Rathbun, says Clarkson convinced him that she is right, and somebody needed to help her.
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Colorado Prosecutor Plans No Charges Against Kansas Voter
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Colorado prosecutor says her office does not plan to file any charges against a man who allegedly voted in Kansas after doing so Colorado. Yuma County District Attorney Brittny Lewton said yesterday (FRI) that Lincoln L. Wilson did not commit perjury or voter fraud because he voted first in Colorado. She says it did not become fraud until he went to Kansas several days later and cast a second ballot, and any perjury and double voting occurred in Kansas. Lewton says her office conducted an investigation, and sent Kansas its findings. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has filed 10 criminal charges, including three felony counts, in Sherman County against the 64-year-old voter. Wilson allegedly voted in both Kansas and Colorado in the same elections in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
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Moran Re-files Campaign Finance Report
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Senator Jerry Moran's campaign has re-filed a campaign finance report after a Kansas woman found more than 200 pages missing from a federal website. The Wichita Eagle reports Moran's campaign found out Thursday that more than 200 pages of its July quarterly fundraising report was missing from the Federal Election Commission's website. The campaign re-filed the FEC report Thursday and released the missing pages to the newspaper. Debbie Nuss, former Manhattan chapter president of the Kansas League of Women Voters, complained to the FEC, saying Moran, a Republican, didn't disclose an itemized report of campaign expenditures. Moran's campaign says it's still unclear why the pages were missing from the FEC website. Among other things, the pages show Moran has received $3,000 from defense contractor Lockheed Martin's political action committee.
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Assistant Professor Files Lawsuit Against Emporia State
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An assistant professor who has accused Emporia State University of racial discrimination has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the school of defamation and invasion of privacy. Melvin Hale filed the lawsuit Wednesday. He and his wife, Angelica, who are black, have been embroiled in confrontation with the university since April, when someone left a note with a racial slur in the office of Angelica Hale's graduate assistant. They allege the dean of School of Library and Information Management did not investigate the incident and retaliated against them for complaining. In September, the university said an investigation found no evidence of a hate crime or racial discrimination. Melvin Hale alleges those findings damaged his reputation and portrayed him as a liar. The university said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.
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Kansas Supreme Court Suspends Topeka Attorney's Law License
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended a Topeka attorney's law license. The state's high court handed down on Friday a more severe penalty against Wendell Betts than the two-year suspension recommended by a disciplinary panel. The effective date was made retroactive to the September 2013 date an administrative hearing. The Supreme Court said that given Betts disciplinary record and his current problems, a more severe discipline than recommended by the panel should be imposed. A disciplinary panel found Betts had been previously disciplined on five occasions, and had engaged in a pattern of criminal misconduct and abuse of alcohol and use of illegal drugs. Betts could eventually petition for reinstatement, but would be required to establish he has complied with certain conditions, such as abstinence from alcohol and drugs.
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Parole Denied for Kansas Man Convicted in Child's Death
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state parole board has denied parole to a 40-year-old man convicted of killing a Topeka toddler in 1995. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Kansas Prisoner Review Board has denied release to Glenn Heath, and won't consider parole for him again until October 2018. Heath was convicted of first-degree murder in the October 1995 beating death of 2-year-old Cain Baker. He's serving a life sentence at the Lansing Correctional Facility. The prisoner review board considered Heath for parole once previously, in 2010, and passed him for consideration for five years. The Corrections Department says board members chose not to grant parole because of the serious nature and circumstances of Heath's crime, public objections to his potential parole and because he denies responsibility for the crime.
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Pedestrian, 62, Killed near Garden Plain
GARDEN PLAIN, Kan. (AP) — A 62-year-old woman has died after she was struck by a vehicle in Sedgwick County. The Wichita Eagle reports the woman was walking along a rural Sedgwick County road early yesterday (FRI) when she was hit. The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office says the accident happened at a gravel intersection between Garden Plain and Cheney. The victim's name was not released. The sheriff's office says the driver stayed on the scene and has been cooperative. Investigators are looking into where the victim was walking on the road at the time of the accident.
