Tuesday's Massive Tornado Rated an EF-4 by National Weather Service
LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW / KPR) - A tornado cut a nearly 32-mile path through Douglas and Leavenworth Counties and was the ground for about an hour Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. The agency rated the devastating twister as an EF-3 as it sliced between Lawrence and Eudora. As it headed toward Linwood, in southern Leavenworth County, the twister reached winds speeds of 170 mph, pushing it into EF-4 status. It first touched down just after 6 pm about 12.5 miles west-northwest of Baldwin City. At times, it was a mile wide. The National Weather Service says 18 people in all were injured as a result of the tornado, which severely damaged dozens of homes and businesses in its path. Read more about tornado clean-up and recovery efforts here.
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Wettest May on Record in Kansas City’s History
Kansas City, Mo. (KC Star) - This has been the wettest month of May on record for Kansas City. The Kansas City Star reports that the severe weather that spawned tornadoes in Kansas and Missouri Tuesday also brought heavy rains that helped set a new record for the wettest May in Kansas City. According to the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, storms dumped 1.56 inches of rain at Kansas City International Airport Tuesday, pushing this month’s total precipitation to 12.81 inches. The previous record for precipitation in May, 12.75 inches, was set in 1995. On 19 days so far this month, there has been at least a trace of precipitation reported at KCI. Only on 9 days has no precipitation fallen at the airport. This May’s rainfall total has also has made this month the third wettest month in Kansas City’s 131-year-history of collecting weather data.
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Fire Ravages Downtown Topeka Warehouse, Damages Apartments
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fire officials in Topeka are investigating what caused a massive fire that tore through a downtown warehouse. The fire was reported Wednesday evening at the Trails Market and Gallery, and firefighters battled the flames into early Thursday morning. All that remains of the warehouse is an empty brick shell. No injuries were reported. The Topeka Capital-Journal says the fire spread to the Kansas Avenue Lofts, which opened only months ago. Firefighters say the blaze scorched the northeast end of the four-floor apartment building, but there was no indication early Thursday that the fire had gotten inside the lofts. There were no immediate damage estimates from the fire. Fire investigators from both the city and state planned to begin the process Thursday morning of determining how and where the fire started.
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Kansas Lawmakers Override Vetoes of Budget Items
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas have overridden Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's vetoes of several spending items in the next state budget, including an extra payment to the state's public pension system. The GOP-controlled House voted 86-30 to override all of Kelly's budget vetoes at once. Republicans leaders had two more votes than they needed and picked up a few Democratic votes. The vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was 27-11. Kelly had argued that her veto would make the state budget more stable by building up the state's cash reserves. The biggest spending item she excised was a $51 million payment to the pension system for teachers and other government workers. She also trimmed funds for mental health services. Republicans argued that the pension payment would help the system's long-term stability.
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Kansas Senate Confirms Governor's Nominee to Court of Appeals
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Senate has confirmed Governor Laura Kelly's nomination of a Kansas City-area attorney to the state's second-highest court. The vote Wednesday was 37-1 for Sarah Warner of Lenexa to be Court of Appeals judge. The Democratic governor submitted Warner's name to the Republican-controlled Senate after it rejected Labette County District Judge Jeffry Jack's nomination over his political tweets in 2017. Kelly tried to withdraw Jack's nomination in March and touched off a legal battle. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Kelly could not legally withdraw the nomination. Warner is a partner in a Lawrence law firm that has defended state abortion restrictions. Kelly supports abortion rights. The only no vote came from independent Senator John Doll of Garden City. He has been protesting a lack of appointees from western Kansas.
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Man Hid Under Mattress to Survive Kansas Tornado
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A least a dozen homes have been destroyed or damaged in Linwood, Kansas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Kansas City. The Kansas City Star reports that 48-year-old Mark Duffin learned from his wife and a television report that the large tornado that hit the Kansas City outskirts Tuesday evening was headed toward his home. The next thing he knew, the walls of his house were coming down. Duffin told the Star he grabbed a mattress, followed his 13-year-old to the basement and protected the two of them with the mattress as the home crashed down around them. He says: "I'm just glad I found my two dogs alive," He added: "Wife's alive, family's alive, I'm alive. So, that's it."
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National Weather Service Confirms 8 Tornadoes in Indiana
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed at least eight tornadoes touched down in Indiana during Monday's outbreak. Survey crews determined Wednesday that two EF-1 tornadoes touched down near Middletown in eastern Indiana, while an EF-2 tornado damaged homes along a nearly 6-mile-long path from Pendleton into the Huntsville area before dissipating in Anderson. One person was slightly injured. Crews also confirmed that an EF-2 tornado touched down near Macy in northern Indiana's Miami County and the same supercell produced an EF-'1 tornado near North Manchester in Wabash County. Another EF-2 tornado touched down in Grant County, while survey crews also determined that an EF-3 tornado touched down in Blackford and Wells counties. The weather service also confirmed an EF-0 tornado touchdown in the northwestern Indiana town of Dyer.
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Senator Jerry Moran Suffers Ankle Injury While Hiking in Arizona
PHOENIX (AP) — Kansas Senator Jerry Moran's office says the 65-year-old has suffered an ankle injury while hiking on a mountain in Phoenix. Moran spokeswoman Morgan Said said the Republican injured his ankle Thursday morning while doing a workout on Camelback Mountain, a popular hiking spot. The Phoenix Fire Department said in a statement that a 65-year-old man couldn't walk due to an injury but did not identify him by name. Firefighters used a wheeled litter to transport him off the mountain. The man was then transported to a hospital for further evaluation. Said said Moran was in the Phoenix area for meetings with law enforcement officials and had to cancel them. She said he plans to return to Kansas on Friday for scheduled meetings and events.
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Brownback to Be Honored for Work as Religious Freedom Envoy
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback will be honored for his work as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The Kansas City Star reports that the Hindu American Foundation plans to give Brownback its Mahatma Gandhi Award for Advancing Pluralism. The foundation said Thursday that the award recognizes individuals or institutions that foster America's "inclusive and pluralistic character." It is named for the Indian leader whose commitment to nonviolent resistance became a model for the U.S. civil rights movement. The foundation praised Brownback's advocacy for Hindu minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim majority nations. President Donald Trump nominated Brownback to the ambassadorship in July 2017, but Brownback wasn't confirmed by the U.S. Senate until January 2018. He faced strong opposition from Democrats because of his record of opposing LGBT rights.
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Kansas Cattle Sale Barn's Owners Indicted on Fraud Charges
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The owners of a northwest Kansas cattle sale barn have been charged with bank fraud over what federal prosecutors say was a check-kiting scheme that cost banks millions of dollars. KAKE-TV reports that Plainville Livestock Commission owners Tyler Gillum and his wife, Camden, face 31 counts of bank fraud in federal court. They also are charged with one count of making a false statement to the federal Small Business Administration in applying for a $1.5 million loan and one count of making a false statement to the Almena State Bank in seeking a $500,000 credit line. A federal grand jury in Topeka issued an indictment Wednesday alleging that the couple defrauded banks in Kansas, Colorado and Texas. The Plainville Livestock Commission's telephone listing is no longer in service.
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Kansas Doctor to Pay Near $6 Million Settlement for False Billings
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Wichita cardiologist has agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle claims that he and his medical group improperly billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary cardiac stent procedures. The Justice Department said in a news release Thursday that Joseph Galichia and his medical group, Galichia Medical Group, also agreed to be banned for three years from participation in any federal health care program, such as Medicaid and Medicare. Prosecutors say Galichia and his group knowingly submitted false billings from 2008 through 2014 for surgically implanted coronary stents that were not medically necessary. The billings were submitted to Medicare, the Defense Health Agency, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The Justice Department says it's the government's third such settlement with Galichia and his medical group since 2000.
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Man in Custody in Weekend Topeka Killing
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 29-year-old man is jailed and accused of first-degree murder and robbery in connection with a weekend shooting in Topeka. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Kristoffer Lee Klesath of Topeka was arrested Tuesday night in connection with the Saturday shooting death of 34-year-old Darton A. Fields II of Topeka. No bond has been set and it isn't immediately clear if Klesath has an attorney. Fields was killed near a liquor store. Bystanders tried unsuccessfully to save him. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Topeka has recorded four homicides this year.
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Missouri Woman Among Those Indicted in Marriage Fraud Case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Kansas City say a Lee's Summit woman is among three Kenyan nationals indicted in a marriage fraud conspiracy. The Kansas City Star reports that 35-year-old Nellie Mbote has been charged in a four-count indictment: conspiracy, making false statements, making a false oath related to naturalization and unlawfully procuring citizenship. The indictment says Mbote and two other people entered into fraudulent marriages arranged by Delmar Dixon of Kansas City. Mbote married in 2009. Prosecutors say Mbote and the others paid Dixon to arrange their marriages, then paid their U.S. citizen spouses $1,000 at the wedding and $100 a month until their permanent residency or U.S. citizenship process was complete. Dixon was sentenced in 2017 to three years in federal prison for arranging up to 40 fraudulent marriages.
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Wichita Advisory Board: Don't Name Officers Involved in Shootings
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A public advisory board in Wichita, Kansas, is now recommending that officers involved in shootings should not be named, citing worries about possible death threats to the families of the officers. The Wichita Eagle reports that the Citizen Review Board has changed its position after previously suggesting that police create a new policy where names would generally be released. The new recommendation came after Police Chief Gordon Ramsay raised concerns about officer safety. Ramsay's proposal, approved by the board last month, calls for releasing some information about the officer, such as age, gender, race and years of service, along with discipline history in use-of-force cases and previous involvement in shootings.
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Central Kansas Flooding Closes Roads, Threatens Golf Course
STERLING, Kan. (AP) _ Roads are closed in central Kansas and a community is in danger of losing much of its golf course because of continued flooding. Officials said flooding remains a concern across Kansas because of severe storms that moved through the state earlier in the week and spawned a large tornado in northeast Kansas. Rice County Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Klein said the Arkansas River is out of its banks and there is flooding along Cow Creek. He said floodwaters are flowing through the Sterling Country Club and, ``They're going to lose part of their golf course.'' He said most of the dirt roads and many of the blacktop roads in the southern part of the county remain closed. A portion of Kansas 14 south of Sterling also was closed.
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2 Peregrine Falcon Chicks Hatched, Banded in Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ Two peregrine falcon chicks that hatched earlier this month atop a 12-story building in Topeka have been given metal identification bands to help track their movements. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the chicks, a male and a female, hatched around the first of May on top of the Westar Energy Building. Westar spokeswoman Kaley Bohlen says it's the ninth year in a row that falcons Nemaha and Boreas have produced offspring in the perch. Westar biology coordinator Eric Johnson said the chicks could be ready to fly in about a month. Falcons have been nesting at the Westar building off and on since 1993. Peregrine falcons were nearly wiped out in North America by DDT and similar pesticides in the 1950s. Their numbers began to rebound after DDT was banned.
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KU's Dotson, Grimes Withdraw from Draft; Grimes to Transfer
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas freshmen Devon Dotson and Quentin Grimes withdrew from the NBA draft ahead of Wednesday night's deadline, while Grimes also announced that he would transfer elsewhere for his sophomore year. The two guards went through various camps and combines to determine whether they would be chosen in this year's draft. After consulting with their families and Kansas coach Bill Self, both decided it would be in their best interest to spend another year refining their games.
For Dotson, that means returning to KU, where he averaged 12.3 points and 3.5 assists last season. He was voted third-team All-Big 12 and picked to the league's all-freshman team, and is in line to run the backcourt following the transfer of Charlie Moore after last season. "Devon called me about 7 p.m. this evening to confirm he was withdrawing from the NBA draft and will be returning," Self said. "The process did what is was supposed to do, which allows players to participate, be seen and receive feedback. After visiting with his family multiple times, Devon came to the conclusion that it was in his best interest to return to school." His decision came one day after five-star prospect R.J. Hampton announced that he was signing with a professional team in New Zealand rather than attending college. Hampton was considering Kansas, among other schools, and his decision may have played a factor in Dotson's own decision.
Now, there is little in the way of Dotson running the point for the Jayhawks next season. Grimes did not say where he intended to transfer after a disappointing freshman year with the Jayhawks. The 6-foot-5 swingman, who averaged just 8.4 points and 2.4 rebounds, prefers to play point guard but mostly played shooting guard at Kansas — a likely factor in his decision. "We initially anticipated him staying in the draft," Self said, "but he and his family decided to return to Kansas but not return to the University of Kansas. We totally support and respect Quentin and his decision and wish him the very best moving forward."
The Jayhawks' roster is finally taking shape after a long, tumultuous offseason.
Dedric Lawson left for the draft and his brother, K.J. Lawson, joined Moore in transferring. The Jayhawks also were uncertain whether power forward Silvio De Sousa would be granted his appeal to the NCAA to play next season after his name surfaced in the FBI's probe into college basketball. De Sousa was cleared next week, giving the Jayhawks a stacked front court with 7-footer Udoka Azubuike — who is coming off wrist surgery — and former five-star recruit David McCormack.
Kansas also returns swingmen Marcus Garrett and Ochai Agbaji, both of whom play significant minutes last season, and a promising freshman class in 6-foot point guard Isaac McBride, 6-6 shooting guard Christian Braun and 6-9 small forward Tristan Enaruna.
The Jayhawks also remain in the hunt for talented forward Jalen Wilson, who backed out of his commitment to Michigan when coach John Beilein left for the Cavalier. The top-50 forward is visiting Kansas this week, North Carolina next week, and is considering Florida and Oklahoma State.
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