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Headlines for Thursday, June 20, 2019

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Ex-Senate Leader to Help Lead Kansas Governor's Tax Study

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has named former state Senate President Steve Morris as co-chairman of a council she is creating to review the state's tax laws. The Democratic governor said Thursday that Morris will lead her Council on Tax Reform along with former state Sen. Janis Lee. Morris is a moderate Hugoton Republican who was Senate president from 2005 through 2012. He lost his Senate seat in a primary-election purge in 2012 by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's conservative allies. Morris and Brownback had been at odds over income tax cuts championed by Brownback. Lee is a Kensington Democrat who served in the Senate from 1989 through 2010. Kelly said she would appoint a tax study group after vetoing two tax relief bills pushed by Republican lawmakers.

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Kansas Senator Jerry Moran Votes to Block Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran has broken with most other Republican senators in voting to block President Donald Trump's administration from selling arms to Saudi Arabia. The Kansas City Star reports that Moran supported two resolutions Thursday disapproving of Trump's use of emergency authority to make the sales. Moran was among seven Republicans to vote for the two measures. Fellow Kansas Republican Pat Roberts voted against them. One resolution objected to arms sales based on the Saudi regime's involvement in a civil war in Yemen and evidence of a role in the murder of U.S.-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Moran said the resolutions prevent Congress from being bypassed on arms sales. Trump is expected to veto the measures. They passed 53-45, well short of the two-thirds majority necessary to override a veto.

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2 More Duck Boat Workers Indicted in Sinking That Killed 17

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted two more employees of a company that owns a duck boat that sank on a Missouri lake last summer, killing 17 people. The U.S. attorney's office says the Branson operation's general manager, 36-year-old Curtis Lanham, of Galena, was indicted on misconduct and neglect charges. The manager on duty, 76-year-old Charles Baltzell, of Kirbyville, also was charged. The 47-count indictment was unsealed and made public Thursday by the Springfield grand jury following their initial court appearances. The boat's captain, Kenneth Scott McKee, was indicted previously on charges alleging that he failed to properly asses the weather and failed to tell passengers to don flotation devices as conditions worsened. The amphibious vehicle he was piloting sank at Table Rock Lake near Branson after it entered the lake despite severe weather warnings. Fourteen people survived.

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State Universities Won't Hike College Tuition for Kansas Undergrads

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State universities will not increase tuition this fall for undergraduate students from Kansas, but the board overseeing higher education boosted rates for other students Wednesday.  Kansas Board of Regents members said they focused on helping undergraduate students from inside the state first as they pushed the universities to keep tuition from rising, believing that would be state lawmakers' top priority. But some Kansas graduate students will still pay more in the fall, along with graduates and undergraduates from outside the state.

The board's decisions came after the Republican-controlled Legislature increased state funding for the universities' operations by $38 million, or nearly 6.5%, for the 2019-20 school year. Some lawmakers who backed the extra spending said they expected no tuition increases, and Democratic Governor Laura Kelly even suggested tuition could drop for some students.  Board members and university officials said that even with big increase in funding, the universities are still struggling to keep up with rising costs and maintain their programs. State funding is still below what it was for the 2008-09 school year.  

Wichita State University, Fort Hays State and the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, will have no tuition increases in the fall. Graduate students from Kansas also will see no tuition increases at the University of Kansas, and its satellite campus in Overland Park will even cut tuition for Kansas undergraduates by 2.6%.

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ACLU Attacks Restrictions on Protests in Kansas Statehouse

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a federal judge to make it easier to protest inside the Kansas Statehouse.  The group sought to show during a court hearing Wednesday that restrictions on demonstrations violate protesters' rights to free speech and due legal process. The ACLU asked U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter to block enforcement of the rules while a lawsuit challenging them goes forward.  The ACLU sued after three college students were banned from the Statehouse for a year for hanging banners promoting Medicaid expansion in the Statehouse in March. The ban was lifted the next day, but the ACLU contends rules are too harsh.  They require a permit for events and prohibit most signs.  An assistant attorney general argued the ACLU is overstating how severe the rules are.

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Affidavit: Meth-Filled Revenge Plot Led to Deadly Stabbing

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Court records say a man charged with helping his girlfriend fatally stab her ex-stepfather told Wichita police that the couple was seeking revenge because of past sexual abuse.  The Wichita Eagle reports that an affidavit was unsealed Tuesday in the case against 24-year-old Micaela Spencer and 25-year-old Royce Thomas. They are charged with first-degree-murder and several other felonies in last month's meth-fueled killing of 50-year-old William Callison.  Police began investigating after Callison's boss, who owns an auto-dealership, saw the couple driving Callison's truck out of a storage facility. It was pulling the boss' trailer and was loaded with a $150,000 classic car.  Police tracked the truck to a camper, where they eventually found Callison's body. Spencer said the plan initially was to get money from Callison in exchange for sex.

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Country Stampede Festival Moving from Manhattan to Topeka

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The popular Country Stampede music festival will be moving from Manhattan to Topeka — and rebranded as the Heartland Stampede. Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla made the announcement Thursday hours before the event kicked off in Topeka. Country Stampede has been held at Tuttle Creek State Park in Manhattan for 23 years. It was moved to Heartland Motorsports Park for this year's event because of flooding at Tuttle Creek. Experts estimated the three-day event brought $8 million to the Manhattan economy. It annually draws more than 100,000 fans to hear some of the biggest country stars. This year's event features 50 country acts, including Clint Black, Jake Owen and Jason Aldean. It is scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday.

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Worker Killed in Tree Cutting Accident Near Silver Lake

SILVER LAKE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 31-year-old Topeka man died while trimming trees.The Shawnee County Sheriff's Office says Cory Harr died Thursday near Silver Lake in northwest Shawnee County. WIBW reports Harr worked for Capital City Tree Care. He did not live at the scene of the accident. Further details about the circumstances of Harr's death weren't immediately available.

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Couple Charged After 5-Year-Old Weighs Only 28 Pounds

SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Johnson County authorities say a couple is charged with child abuse and endangerment after they brought a 5-year-old boy to a hospital weighing only 28 pounds. The Kansas City Star reports 28-year-old Elizabeth Francis and 35-year-old John Carter, of Shawnee, are each charged with abuse of a child and aggravated endangerment of a child. Court documents say investigators were called to Children's Mercy Hospital in December. Doctors said the boy suffered malnutrition from starvation, a distended stomach and a perforated bowel caused by blunt force trauma. He also had bruises on most of his body. He was taken into protective custody after hospital staff told investigators the child had lost 10 pounds since he had been to the hospital in September. Francis and Carter are each jailed on $100,000 bond.

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Woman Sentenced for Sex Trafficking 16-Year-Old Girl

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 31-year-old Wichita woman is going to prison after admitting that she used online advertisements to solicit sex acts with a 16-year-old girl.  Federal prosecutors say Brittany Knighton-Harris was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking.  U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release that as part of a plea deal, Knighton-Harris admitted that she used Backpage.com in July 2013 to post online ads offering sex acts with the girl at a Topeka hotel. She also arranged for the girl to perform sex acts for money in Wichita.

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Man Sentenced to Probation for Stealing from Elderly Mother

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 53-year-old Kansas man has been sentenced to five years of probation for stealing more than $21,000 from his mother while she was in a nursing home. KSNW-TV reports that John Queen also was ordered to pay back the money. He faces five months in prison if he violates his probation. The thefts occurred in 2015 and 2016 while Queen had durable power of attorney. The Kansas Department of Children and Families began investigating after the nursing home reported that the bills for Queen's mother weren't being paid, putting her at risk of being evicted. The prosecutor's office found that bank records showed Queen withdrew thousands in cash from his mother's account and made dozens of charges at restaurants and stores. Queen pleaded no contest in April to felony theft.

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Nurse Charged with Raping Patient at Independence, Missouri, Hospital

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — The prosecutor in Jackson County, Missouri, says a nurse has been charged with raping a patient at a hospital in Independence.  The prosecutor said Wednesday that 35-year-old Chukwuemeka Emmanuel, of Overland Park, is charged with first-degree rape.  Emmanuel was a "float nurse" employed by Parallon. Centerpoint Medical Center officials said in a statement that he had been fired.  The Kansas City Star reports Independence police received a report of a sexual assault at the hospital on June 15.  Court records say the woman told police Emmanuel raped her after she asked him to help clean her because her catheter was leaking.  The hospital said the patient was being given pain medication at the time of the alleged rape.  A warrant has been issued for Emmanuel, who is not in custody.

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Police Say Man's Death in Topeka Considered a Homicide

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka police say the death of a man whose body was found inside a home is being investigated as a homicide.  The victim, 36-year-old John Waller, of Topeka, was found dead Monday at a central Topeka house.  Police Lt. Andrew Beightel said in a news release that evidence at the scene and information from the coroner's office prompted the decision to investigate the death as a homicide. He did not elaborate on the evidence.  Police officials said officers who responded to the home noticed "several suspicious circumstances" that prompted them to call in detectives.

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Man Pleads No Contest to Shooting at Topeka Police

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man has pleaded no contest to charges related to exchanging gunfire with Topeka police officers.  Trevon Lorenzo Brown entered the plea Wednesday to two counts of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, unlawful discharge of a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay said in a news release that Brown fired at police while fleeing from officers patrolling an area with an increase in vehicle burglaries in October 2018 . Several hours later, officers encountered Brown again while conducting a search and they exchanged another round of gunfire. He shot at five officers in the two incidents.  Brown was shot twice and then arrested. No officers were injured.  Kagay determined the officers' use of force was justified as self-defense.

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Man "Mad as Hell" Kansas Shuts Racial Bias Case

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A black man who was detained by police while moving into his home says that Kansas regulators investigated his racial bias complaint and closed the case with no further action.  Karle Robinson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was "mad as hell" when he got the letter last week from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers' Standards and Training.  The 61-year-old Marine veteran was held at gunpoint and handcuffed in August as he was carrying a television out of a rented moving van into the home he had bought a month earlier in Tonganoxie, about 30 miles west of Kansas City.  Robinson alleged police harassed him for weeks after that incident, and that the police chief blocked him from filing a racial bias complaint with the department.

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Hutchinson Zoo Director Details Damages from Flooding

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Hutchinson Zoo director Ryan VanZant says flooding in May covered more than one-third of the zoo.  The Hutchinson News reports the zoo — except for the gift shop and train — has been closed since May 21 after consecutive storms caused water to rise at the zoo.  VanZant said in a Facebook post Wednesday that five buildings and two playgrounds were affected by flood waters. He said staff moved animals to safety ahead of the rising water and built temporary housing where the animals are being kept while waiting for the water to recede and the cleanup to begin.  A Facebook fundraiser has been started to help cleanup costs.  The Hutchinson Friends of the Zoo says the goal is to raise $10,000 before Family Fun Day on August 17.

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Officials: Rain, High Reservoir Releases to Mean Wet Summer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The continued threat of rain and higher-than-normal reservoir releases into the Missouri River will hamper the draining of flooded fields and delay repairs to many damaged levees. Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service said Thursday during a news conference that although water levels on the river have dropped below flood stage in most places, rain over the next week could cause parts of the river to rise as much as 2 feet (0.61 meters) from Rulo, Nebraska, to where it meets the Mississippi River in St. Louis. Increased reservoir releases are also keeping swamped land from drying out. The Corps reiterated Thursday that releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will remain at 75,000 cubic feet (2,124 cubic meters) per second until next Thursday, when officials plan to drop that amount to 70,000 cubic feet (1,982 cubic meters) per second. That's still about twice the normal amount for this time of year.

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Wichita State Has Groundbreaking for Student-Athlete Center

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita State's new center for student-athletes is one step closer to reality.  The school held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for its $13.8 million Student-Athlete Success Center close to where it will be constructed near Koch Arena.  The Wichita Eagle reports the 36,000-square-foot, two-level center will include a 2,500-square-foot study hall, tutoring rooms and a large computer center.  The university's track and field program will also have a dedicated space in the facility. The team is housed in Cessna Stadium, which athletes say has mice in the showers and rundown conditions in locker rooms and team rooms.  Currently, all student-athletes at Wichita State share the same academic center and weightlifting room and the areas are often overwhelmed by demand.  The new center is expected to be completed by July 2020.

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Bankers Survey Indicates Improving Farm Economy in 10 States

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Bankers surveyed in parts of 10 Plains and Western states are seeing improvement in the region's farm economy The Rural Mainstreet survey released Thursday shows the survey's overall index rising from a stunted 48.5 in May to 53.2 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says higher agriculture commodity prices and rebuilding from recent floods boosted June's index. Goss also noted that despite negative consequences from trade tensions and tariffs, nearly 7 of 10 bank CEOS surveyed support either raising or continuing the Trump administration's current tariffs. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

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McDonald's Kansas City Burger in UK Starts Barbecue Feud

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — McDonald's has started a trans-Atlantic barbecue feud with the introduction of a Kansas City-themed hamburger in the U.K.  Outgoing Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James said Tuesday that the fast-food chain should "stay in your lane" in a tweet that included a picture of what he says a "real" burger looks like. Kansas City is known for its style of dry-rubbed, slow-cooked meats drizzled in tomato-molasses sauce.  Other Twitter users rushed to join the mocking after McDonald's proclaimed "Yeehaw" as it promoted its "Kansas City Stack" on social media.  Barbecue powerhouse Q39 kidded "Yeehaw, mate!" while Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que retweeted a scathing critique of the burger and added "face with tears of joy" and "rolling on the floor laughing" emojis.  McDonald's says the bacon-topped burger is available until June 25, but not in America.

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