Funerals Scheduled for 3 Killed at Jewish Sites
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Funeral arrangements for three people killed at two Jewish community sites near Kansas City on Sunday are scheduled for later this week. WDAF-TV reports that a private memorial service for 14-year-old Reat Griffin Underwood and his grandfather, 69-year-old William Lewis Corporon, will be at 3 pm Friday in the main sanctuary of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Visitation for 53-year-old Terri LaManno will be from 5 pm to 8 pm on Wednesday at St. Peter's Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Mass of Christian Burial will be at the church at 10 am Thursday, with interment afterword. Underwood and Corporon were killed outside the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City on Sunday afternoon, while LaManno was shot outside Village Shalom, a nearby Jewish retirement complex.
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Brownback Orders Flags to Be Flown at Half-Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on Thursday and Friday to honor three people shot to death at two Jewish sites in Overland Park. Dr. William Corporon and his grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, were shot and killed Sunday outside of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. A third victim, Terri Lamanno, was shot moments later at the Village Shalom, a Jewish retirement complex. Memorial services for the three victims are scheduled on Thursday and Friday. A suspect, 73-year-old Frazier Glenn Cross, faces a state charge of capital murder for the deaths Corporon and Underwood and another count of first-degree premeditated murder for the death Lamanno. Federal prosecutors are gathering evidence to determine if other charges will be filed.
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Jewish Community Center Where 2 Were Killed Reopens
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Jewish Community Center in Kansas where two people were shot to death on Sunday has reopened. The center in Overland Park opened its doors early Wednesday, three days after a man shot and killed a doctor and his grandson in the parking lot. The 73-year-old suspect, Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., then allegedly drove to a nearby Village Shalom senior living center and shot and killed a third woman. Cross, a known white supremacist, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and capital murder. The Kansas City Star reports people were in line waiting for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City to reopen. The center has become a hub of activity for all people. It has about 8,500 members; 45 percent are not Jewish.
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Holder to Deliver Remarks in Overland Park
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Overland Park on Thursday to pay tribute to the victims in the shootings at Jewish community sites. The interfaith memorial ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 am CDT. The white supremacist charged in shootings Sunday that left three people dead at two Jewish community sites in suburban Kansas City made his first court appearance Tuesday.
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Roberts, Wolf Report Senate Fundraising Totals
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Incumbent U.S. Senator Pat Roberts continues to maintain his fundraising advantage over fellow Republican Dr. Milton Wolf in their Kansas primary race. According to reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Roberts raised more than $534,000 from January 1 through March 31, aided by nearly $260,000 from political action committees. Wolf's campaign says it raised more than $318,000 during the same period, and that all but $5,050 was contributed by individual donors. Roberts raised $274,000 from individual donors. Roberts has raised nearly $4 million in his campaign for a fourth term in the Senate. Wolf has raised $587,000, including $30,000 in personal loans to his campaign.
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KS Law Mandates Some Health Coverage for Autism
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has signed legislation aimed at providing health insurance coverage of services for hundreds of children with autism, starting next year. Brownback had a signing ceremony Wednesday at the satellite University of Kansas campus in Overland Park, the home for an autism research center. Local legislators and parents who supported requiring health coverage for the treatment of childhood autism see the new law as a first step. The law will require group health plans for companies with 51 or more employees to provide coverage for services for children under 12, starting next year. Other health plans would be required to provide coverage starting in 2016. Some children could receive coverage for up to 1,300 hours a year of specialized behavioral therapy.
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School Confirms 6th-Grader's Death from Meningitis
LOUISBURG, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas sixth-grader has died from complications of bacterial meningitis, but his school district and state health officials insist the disease is not contagious and does not pose a public health risk. The Kansas City Star reports the Louisburg Unified School District on Wednesday confirmed the death of Aaron T. Willard a day earlier. The district said in a statement it was providing counselors for students and staff members who need them. Kansas state epidemiologist Charlie Hunt says the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has not recommended taking any preventative actions in regard to Aaron's death. Hunt says bacterial infections causing meningitis typically occur in household or dormitory settings where there is close personal contact with someone carrying the bacteria, but not so much in general classroom settings.
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Professors Endorse Proposed Social Media Policy
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — More than 80 distinguished professors have endorsed a new proposed social media policy for Kansas universities. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the professors, from several universities, sent a letter to the Kansas Board of Regents saying the proposed policy "exemplifies the role of scholarship for public intellectuals in a democracy." The new policy was proposed by a work group formed by the regents. It proposed a strictly advisory social media policy for university faculty and staff. That would replace a policy that allows university administrators to discipline or fire employees who they believe have improperly used social media. Opponents said the policy was too broad and restrained free speech. The regents passed the current policy in December after a University of Kansas professor posted an anti-NRA tweet on Twitter.
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City Clerk Gets Probation for Stealing from Town
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The former city clerk of a tiny southeast Kansas community was spared prison but ordered to the repay the almost $60,000 she embezzled from her town and church. Sixty-seven-year-old Diana Cox, of Havana, told the court she was ashamed and apologized before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten handed down a sentence for two years of supervised release. Marten cited her age and lack of criminal history. Cox pleaded guilty in January to one count each of bank fraud and wire fraud. She admitted stealing about $14,700 from the town of Havana, which has a population of just over 100. She also admitted stealing nearly $45,000 from Cross Point Baptist Church in Caney, where she served as treasurer. The prosecutor says the whole town was hurt by the thefts.
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Topeka Boys, Girls Clubs Receive Federal Grant
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Boys and Girls Clubs of Topeka have been selected to receive more than $272,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to provide an integrated physical activity and nutrition program. The agency on Tuesday announced the award, one of 67 grants made nationwide to distribute $33 million to local education agencies. Agencies receiving the grants are required to use the funds to initiate, expand or enhance physical education and nutrition education programs. The activities include after-school programs for children in kindergarten through the 12th grade. The goal is to teach children to have an appreciation for proper fitness and nutrition, as well as to meet state standards for physical education.
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Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charges
RIVERSIDE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe has pleaded guilty to amended charges of defective equipment and littering in connection with his November arrest for possessing marijuana. Bowe paid $610 in fines after his plea was entered Wednesday in Riverside's municipal court. City prosecutor Amy Ashefford says Bowe's amended charges are no different from what others get when charged with speeding and possessing pot for the first time. Bowe's attorney, Kevin Regan, says the case is closed and there is no admission of guilt for the marijuana charge, which was dismissed. Bowe was pulled over in the Kansas City suburb on November 10 for driving 48 in a 35 mph zone. He was arrested after police found a black bag containing his wallet, driver's license and two containers of suspected marijuana.
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Business Manager Sentenced for Embezzlement
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The former business manager at a Kansas City doctor's office has been sentenced for embezzling $170,000, a crime that forced her employer to declare bankruptcy. Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that 57-year-old Eileen Kisner, of Kansas City, was sentenced to two years in federal prison without parole. She also must repay $170,232. Kisner pleaded guilty in November to mail fraud. She was the business manager at Brookside Family Medicine from 2002 to 2010. Prosecutors say she used her employer's credit cards for her personal expenses and those of her husband. Shortly before she was fired, Kisner fled to Europe, where she lived for three years before being arrested in Philadelphia in February 2013. Her boss, Dr. Darren Killen, had to declare bankruptcy and sell his business.
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Missouri Farm Bureau Opposing Multi-State Transmission Line
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Farm Bureau has voted to act as an intervener in a case before the state's utility commission involving the Grain Belt Express electric transmission line. The St. Joseph News-Press reports that the organization opposes granting eminent domain to Clean Line Energy Partners for its project, which would carry electricity generated by windmill turbines through about 200 miles of the state. The Missouri section is part of a $2.2 billion project to build a 750-mile-long high-voltage overhead transmission line from Kansas, through Missouri and Illinois and to a substation in Indiana. Clear Line has filed with the Missouri Public Service Commission for utility status and approval of a route for the line. Opponents say the transmission lines would reduce property values and potentially create a health risk.
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KS Employers Face Sentencing over Illegal Worker
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man will soon learn his punishment for harboring a Chinese teenage girl who was working illegally at his restaurant. A notation Tuesday in U.S. District Court has moved up the sentencing for 33-year-old Yong "Tony" Lin to April 28. He has pleaded guilty to harboring an immigrant who was unlawfully in the United States. His 29-year-old wife, Zhuo Mei "Mandy" Weng, has pleaded guilty to hiding the crime. She will be sentenced on the same date before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten. Both had originally been set for sentencing May 7. The case stems from a tip that a minor teenager being housed with other employees at an apartment was working at Lin's World Buffet Grill.
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New Kansas African American Museum on Hold
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Plans for a new Kansas African American Museum in Wichita are on hold while supporters raise money and develop the museum's mission. The museum's board of directors has returned 1.2 acres of land the city leased to the museum for $1 a year in 2005. The museum's executive director, Mark McCormick, says plans for the museum are postponed for up to five years to allow supporters to raise money. The Wichita Eagle reports that the current museum is housed in the Calvary Baptist Church, which was built in 1917. It is one of the few surviving buildings in Wichita's black business district. Supporters hope to someday move the museum to downtown Wichita and expand its mission, which currently focuses mostly on black history in Wichita.
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2 Oklahoma Women Die in Kansas Turnpike Accident
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two women from Oklahoma died when their car collided with a pickup truck driven by a man going the wrong way on the Kansas Turnpike. The Kansas Highway Patrol says the accident occurred Tuesday night on Interstate 35 in Wichita. The patrol says the driver, 65-year-old Donald Fifer of Haysville, was driving south in the northbound lanes when his truck hit a vehicle head-on, struck a guardrail and overturned before starting on fire. He was hospitalized in Wichita. The driver of the second vehicle, 38-year-old Lori Uchiyama, of Blackwell, Oklahoma and her passenger, 33-year-old Elizabeth Goodno of Ponca City, Oklahoma, were killed. Investigators are trying to determine why Fifer was driving the wrong way. The accident closed the turnpike for several hours.
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Kansas State Gives Weber 1-Year Contract Extension
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University men's basketball coach Bruce Weber has received a one-year contract extension through 2018-19 after leading the Wildcats to 47 wins in his first two seasons — the most by any coach during that span in school history. Weber led Kansas State to a 20-13 record last season and an NCAA tournament appearance, Weber's second straight and the fifth straight trip for the program, a school record. Weber was the 2012-13 Big 12 Coach of the Year in his first season at Kansas State. Weber will receive $2.25 million for the additional year and a $500,000 retention bonus if he completes the contract. He was hired in March 2012.