Kansas Governor Seeks Federal Disaster Declaration
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is seeking a federal disaster declaration, citing severe weather and flooding that continue to ravage the state. Kelly, a Democrat, announced the request to President Donald Trump on Monday, the same day Republican Governor Mike Parson in neighboring Missouri made the same request for his state. Kelly is seeking federal money to help pay for shelter management, water rescues, human services support and other needs. Forty-nine of the 105 counties in Kansas are part of a state of disaster declaration. More rain in recent days is keeping river and lake levels extraordinarily high.
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Severe Weather Slams Midwest; Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma, Floodwaters Rage Across Kansas
EL RENO, Okla. (AP / KPR) — The National Weather Service says a tornado touched down in the Tulsa area early Sunday, damaging structures, uprooting trees and toppling power lines. Pete Snyder with the weather service said Sunday that officials had confirmed that a tornado caused damage in the Tulsa suburb of Sapulpa and surrounding areas. Snyder says crews are assessing the damage to determine the tornado's strength. He says the area also experienced damage from straight-line winds that officials say exceeded 80 mph. The tornado was spawned by a powerful storm system that rolled through the state and occurred not long after another tornado killed two people and injured 29 others in El Reno, about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City.
Elsewhere, continued heavy rains have led to flooding in several parts of Kansas. In the southern Kansas town of Coffeyville, officials have implemented mandatory evacuations as water from the Verdigris River has now risen over levees in the area. Forecasters expect the Verdigris to hit 26.5 feet, but the levee is only 26 feet high.
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Cost of Buying Out Flood-Prone Homes: $5 Billion and Rising
MOSBY, Mo. (AP) — Over the past three decades, federal and local governments have poured more than $5 billion into buying tens of thousands of properties that are susceptible to flooding. An analysis of federal data by The Associated Press shows those buyouts have been getting more expensive. Many of the costliest have come during the last decade after strong storms pounded heavily populated coastal states such as Texas, New York and New Jersey. This year's record flooding in the Midwest and Plains states could add even more buyouts to the queue. The purchases are happening as the climate changes. Along rivers and sea coasts, some homes once considered at little risk of flooding are now endangered due to water that is climbing higher and surging farther inland than historic patterns predicted.
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Kansas Lawmakers May Use Last Day of Session to Test Governor's Clout
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Governor Laura Kelly this week faces a key test of her power to shape the Kansas budget and keep moderate Republicans on her side. The GOP-controlled Legislature is preparing to consider overriding Kelly's vetoes of spending and tax relief measures. Lawmakers are set to convene Wednesday to conclude any final business and adjourn for the year. It's their only chance to enact a Republican tax relief bill and several budget items over vetoes reflecting Kelly's belief that the measures would create future budget problems. Republicans have the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to override vetoes. Kelly needs at least a few moderate GOP defections. The votes comes only a few weeks after Kelly failed to maintain moderate GOP support for her Medicaid expansion plan.
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Officer Shoots and Kills Suspect in Carjacking After he Fled
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A police officer shot and killed a man who fled multiple times when the officer tried to arrest him over the weekend in Kansas City, Missouri. The Kansas City Star reports the man who died was a suspect in an armed carjacking that happened around 12:30 am Sunday. Police say the armed man had forced his way into a home and took a vehicle. While officers were at the home, the man returned. The man fled when police tried to arrest him, but an officer caught up with him just south of the home. The man struggled, and the officer fired his gun. The suspect received first aid and was taken to a hospital by ambulance where he died. The officer wasn't injured.
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6 Fatal Shootings in Kansas City Area over Holiday Weekend
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Six more fatal shootings in the Kansas City area over the Memorial Day weekend have police concerned about the uptick in violence. The Kansas City Star reports that the killings occurred between Friday and Sunday and included one man who was killed after struggling with a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer. Kansas City, Missouri, has recorded 54 homicides this year, up from 48 at the same time a year ago. Three of the weekend shootings were in Kansas City, Kansas, one in Grandview, Missouri, and two in Kansas City, Missouri. A suspect in an armed carjacking was shot and killed early Sunday by a Kansas City officer. Police say 30-year-old Terrance Bridges ran from police then resisted arrest when the officer caught up with him. The officer was unhurt.
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Northeast Kansas Woman Killed When Huge Tree Falls on House
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A northeast Kansas woman has been killed by a massive tree falling on her home while she was in the living room. The death occurred Tuesday morning in Leavenworth. Authorities have not yet released the victim's name. Leavenworth Fire Chief Gary Birch said authorities believe the tree might have fallen over because the ground was so saturated from recent rains that its roots became loose. He said there was no strong wind in the area Tuesday morning. Birch said a crew was working Tuesday to remove the tree so that the woman's body can be recovered. He said the trunk of the tree appeared to be about 4 feet in diameter. Much of Kansas has seen heavy rain and flooding over the past week.
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Ex-City Treasurer Charged with Defrauding Small Kansas Town
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A former town treasurer has been charged in federal court with defrauding her small northeast Kansas community and is accused of spending taxpayer dollars at a casino. Prosecutors last week filed felony charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return against ex-Fontana city Treasurer Deborah Sell. Sell is accused of using city funds to pay personal expenses. Prosecutors allege she defrauded the city for more than two years before leaving the treasurer's job in September 2017. Fontana is 40 miles southwest of Kansas City. She is accused of using a city debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM at a Kansas City-area casino in 2017 and failing to report more than $94,000 in income on her 2017 federal tax return. A telephone listing for Sell was disconnected.
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KC-Area Man Drowns While Swimming at Lake of the Ozarks
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 27-year-old Kansas City-area man has drowned while swimming at the Lake of the Ozarks during the Memorial Day holiday. The Missouri Highway Patrol said 27-year-old William Gordon-Price of Overland Park, Kansas, drowned about 4:45 p.m. Monday near the Grand Glaize Bridge. The Kansas City Star reports that Gordon-Price had jumped into the water and was swimming near a pontoon boat when he went under and did not resurface. The Highway Patrol said the lake is about 60 feet deep in the area where Gordon-Price went under. The patrol said he was operating the pontoon boat and was not wearing a safety device. Rescuers used surface and side-scan sonar searches in hopes of finding him. Divers were brought in to search for him and continued into Monday night.
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Wichita Police Fatally Shoot Man Who Allegedly Pointed Gun
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man called police to his home twice claiming people were outside before they returned a third time early on Memorial Day and fatally shot him when he allegedly fired a gun at them. Police said Tuesday that they were called to 49-year-old Robert Sabater's home for the third time by a neighbor's report of shots being fired. Authorities said Sabater ran out of his house and down the street, waving a gun and firing sporadically at officers. They said he refused an order to drop his weapon and officers shot him. He died at the scene. Sabater had called police to his house at about 9 p.m. Sunday and again at 11 p.m., complaining that he heard people outside. Police said they found no one.
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Kansas City Police: Device Thrown in Parked SUV Exploded
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say someone threw an explosive device into an SUV parked outside of a Kansas City, Kansas, apartment complex right before it blew up. The Kansas City Star reports that the explosion happened Sunday morning and damaged the Chevrolet TrailBlazer. No one was in the vehicle or was hurt by the blast. Police Chief Terry Zeigler says his department has requested help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the investigation.
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Kansas Has Paid 2 of 5 Claims for Wrongful Incarceration
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One year after lawmakers agreed to compensate people who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, Kansas has paid two of five claims. Kansas has agreed to pay $1.1 million to Richard Jones of Kansas City, who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a robbery that he says was committed by someone who looks just like him. This week the state agreed to pay $1.03 million to Floyd Bledsoe , who wrongly spent nearly 16 years behind bars for the murder of a 14-year-old girl. Still pending is a petition filed by Lamonte McIntyre , who was mistakenly imprisoned 23 years for a double murder. Kansas is disputing claims for compensation filed by two others.
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Topeka OKs $33,000 Settlement to Officer, but Doesn't Say Why
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka police officer who filed a grievance over discipline he received has been granted a settlement of nearly $33,000 by the Topeka City Council. But the Capital-Journal reports that officials won't provide details about officer's complaint or why the city was compelled to pay the settlement. The council voted 9-0 Tuesday to approve payment of the settlement to Officer Christopher Voelcker. The newspaper filed a Kansas Open Records Act request to compel City Attorney Lisa Robertson to name Voelcker as the officer receiving the settlement. But Robertson's office would not provide a copy of the grievance, saying that information fell under the umbrella of personnel records protected from release under the open records act.
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Coming Home: Navajo to Get Treaty that Ended Imprisonment
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A 150-year-old document that allowed Navajos to return to their homeland in the Four Corners region where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet is destined for a permanent home at the tribe's museum. Navajos had been imprisoned at a desolate tract of land in eastern New Mexico before signing a treaty with the U.S. government in 1868. There are three known copies of the treaty, one of which had been in a Massachusetts home but was considered lost. Clare "Kitty" Weaver is the great-grandniece of one of the negotiators who took a copy home. She says it had been mixed in with Samuel F. Tappan's papers and she only recently discovered its importance. She reached an agreement last week to donate the treaty to the Navajo Nation. A tribal legislative committee is expected to vote Tuesday on accepting it. U.S. military officials had planned to move the Navajos to land in present-day Kansas and Oklahoma, but those plans were abandoned. The Navajo reservation in the southwest United States now spans 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
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