Filing: 'Confidential' Documents Undercut Voting Fraud Claim
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Civil rights advocates say a Kansas election official is trying to hide materials that undercut his public claim that substantial numbers of noncitizens have registered to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the documents as part of its federal civil lawsuit in Kansas challenging the state's proof-of-citizenship document requirement. It wants the court to remove the confidential designation Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach placed on materials he was photographed taking into a November meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump, as well as a separate draft amendment to the National Voter Registration Act. Kobach, a gubernatorial candidate, has argued in a court filing that the ACLU's efforts to publicize them are meant "to annoy, harass and embarrass" him. Trump named Kobach vice chairman of a national election fraud commission.
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Former Kansas Lawmaker Seeks GOP Nomination for Governor
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A former Kansas legislator who was the Republican nominee for governor in 2006 is running for the office again. Former state Senator Jim Barnett is appealing to Republican voters who are upset with GOP Governor Sam Brownback and his now-ended tax-cutting experiment. The 62-year-old Barnett is a Topeka physician. He launched his campaign for the Republican nomination with a Tuesday morning announcement in his hometown. He planned stops in eight other cities around the state this week. Barnett said that bipartisan legislative majorities showed courage in overriding Brownback's veto of a measure that will increase income taxes to raise $1.2 billion over two years. The new law rolls back past tax cuts championed by Brownback. Barnett also supports expanding the state's Medicaid health coverage for the poor.
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Kansas Woman Sentenced for Fleeing Country with Daughters
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) _ A Lawrence woman has been sentenced to three years of probation for forging her ex-husband's signature on official documents and fleeing to Europe with her two daughters. Thirty-four-year-old Samantha Elmer was ordered Tuesday to serve six months home confinement as part of her sentence for aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors say Elmer used the forged documents to obtain passports for her 9- and 11-year-old daughters. Authorities say Elmer took the girls in October 2015 and boarded a flight from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Vienna ahead of a custody hearing and a trial on theft charges in Missouri. The girls' father called police when the girls missed six days of school. The girls were reunited in December 2015 with their father, who lives in Smithville, Missouri.
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Eudora City Manager Enters Diversion for DUI
EUDORA, Kan. (AP) — The Eudora city manager has entered into a diversion agreement for a driving under the influence citation he received in February. The agreement with the Douglas County District Attorney's Office requires 31-year-old Barack Matite to pay $1,025 in fines and costs, complete 20 hours of community service, complete an alcohol education class and to not use alcohol for a year. If he doesn't comply with the terms, he could be prosecuted for first-offense DUI. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Matite was arrested February 4. He has been city manager in Eudora since August 2016. Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin says the incident was unfortunate but the Eudora City Commission still has confidence in this ability to do his job.
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Mom: Cop Should Have Stopped Drowned Daughter from Driving
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mother of a University of Missouri-Kansas City student who drove into the Missouri River and drowned after a traffic stop says the 20-year-old was "hammered" and shouldn't have been allowed to drive. The Kansas City Star reports that Liz Anderson is raising concerns after watching two videos of Toni Anderson the last time she was seen alive in January. QuikTrip surveillance video shows the Wichita woman driving the wrong way and sitting at an intersection for nearly 15 minutes before a North Kansas City police officer pulled up behind her. Although she seems confused in dashcam video, the officer told her to go park and collect herself. Toni Anderson's body was found two months later in her submerged vehicle. Liz Anderson says the officer "messed up."
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Officers Shoot, Kill Kansas Man After He Fails to Drop Gun
LEHIGH, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say an officer has shot and killed a central Kansas man after he refused to drop a gun. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says in a news release that 50-year-old Robb Stewart was killed Tuesday night after officers responded to a domestic situation in the small town of Lehigh. The release says responding officers saw Stewart move from his home to a large outbuilding. Officers from the Marion County Sheriff's Office, the Marion Police Department and the Hillsboro Police Department then surrounded the outbuilding. The release says Stewart emerged from the building about 15 minutes later and was shot after not dropping his firearm as ordered. He died at the scene. No officers were injured, although one was transported to a hospital as a precaution. The KBI is investigating.
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Suspect Arrested in Killing Man Behind Topeka Gas Station
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a suspect has been arrested in the killing of a man behind a Topeka gas station. KSNT-TV reports that a 41-year-old man was booked into the Shawnee County Jail early Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of 34-year-old Jason Baker. Police found the Topeka man bleeding and unresponsive earlier this month behind the gas station in the western part of the city. The investigation is ongoing. Police are urging anyone with information to come forward.
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Man Charged in Wichita Rape After Being Freed from Prison
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ A man has been charged with raping a 7-year-old girl in a Wichita apartment six weeks after he was freed from prison after serving time for another rape. Twenty-three-year-old Corbin Breitenbach was charged Tuesday with attempted capital murder, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated burglary. Breitenbach said little during his first appearance other than to ask his bond amount. When he was told it was $1 million, he shook his head. The Wichita Eagle reports that the registered sex offender was paroled April 28 for choking and raping a woman in 2012. Early on June 11, he's accused of removing the 7-year-old girl from a bedroom then raping her on an outdoor balcony. The girl was hospitalized but has been released.
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6 Indicted in Wichita Identity Theft Case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ A federal indictment alleges that six people from the Wichita area have been indicted in an identity theft case in which stolen mail was used to make fake identification documents and pass forged checks. The U.S. attorney's office says Tuesday's indictment names 28-year-old Chanel Wiseman, 45-year-old John McMillan, 31-year-old Shane Pitman, 33-year-old Brent Slover, 41-year-old Keri Tunnell and 22-year-old Raina Zeiner. Prosecutors say the fake documents that were produced included Kansas driver's licenses and student identification cards. The indictment says those identification documents were used to forge checks at stores including Wal-Mart.
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Kansas Law Enforcement Looks to Technology for Recruits
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Law enforcement agencies throughout Kansas are turning to videos in their increasingly difficult challenge of recruiting new officers. The Wichita Eagle reports that the Hutchinson Police Department and the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office have both rolled out commercials or longer videos in recent weeks and months targeting potential recruits. The Wichita Police Department has been following a recruit class through the training academy with a video camera, posting weekly clips online showing what and how they're doing. Officer Paul Cruz says the department's videos emphasize recruiting minority and women officers to "represent or reflect the community that it serves." Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center Director Ed Pavey says that difficulties like low starting pay, night and weekend shifts, and negative views of law enforcement remain significant obstacles.
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Kansas City Man Sentenced in Overland Park Nightclub Death
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City man was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 50 years for a man's death outside an Overland Park nightclub. James Willis was sentenced Wednesday for first-degree murder in the September 2015 death of 24-year-old Jurl Carter of Olathe. Willis' brother, Dale Willis, was previously sentenced to life in prison in the case. Carter was a rapper called "Bo Boogy." Dale Willis also was a rapper and owned a Kansas City record company. Carter was killed outside Jim Kilroy's Roxy Bar after an altercation with Dale Willis. The Kansas City Star reports that witnesses said Carter was in a vehicle when he was shot several times. Prosecutors said Dale Willis told his brother to shoot Carter. James Willis testified he shot Carter in self-defense.
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Chimpanzee Dies in Fall from Tree at the Kansas City Zoo
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Zoo says a 31-year-old male chimpanzee died in an accidental fall from a tree. The zoo said Wednesday the chimp, called Bahati, climbed a tree while interacting with other chimps. He fell to the ground after grabbing a dead branch and died from injuries from the fall. Zookeepers estimate Bahati fell 30 to 40 feet. The zoo says its chimp area includes natural trees, which are monitored by staff and professionally trimmed annually. Bahati was born at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita in 1986. He came to Kansas City in February this year from Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. The Kansas City Zoo now has 12 chimpanzees.
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MLB, Players Union Donate $1M to Negro Leagues Museum in KC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Major League Baseball and its players union have donated $1 million to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City to support its operations, expansion and educational opportunities. Baseball Commissioner Bob Manfred and union director Tony Clark announced the grant Wednesday. The Negro Leagues museum was founded in 1990 in a one-room office in Kansas City and has grown into an attraction that draws thousands of visitors every year. Many big league players make it a point to stop by when their teams are in town to play the Royals. Earlier this year, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones toured it and made a $20,000 donation.
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Two Arrested in Junction City Face Federal Charges in Mississippi Killings
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A 38-year-old-man and a woman already facing state charges over three deaths during a Mississippi robbery now face federal charges. Joshua Garcia, of Vancleave, Mississippi pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday to robbery, discharging a firearm causing the murder of three individuals, and being a felon in possession of a gun. Thirty-six-year-old Jamison Townsend, of Blue Springs, Missouri, is scheduled to appear Friday on charges of robbery and discharging a firearm causing the murder of three individuals. Both could face the death penalty if convicted. Police say 81-year-old Cleveland Mosley, 60-year-old Robert Ivy and 77-year-old Ted McLemore were killed December 17 in a Jackson, Mississippi pawn shop robbery. Garcia and Townsend are also suspected of robbing two Mississippi pawn shops. They were arrested near Junction City, Kansas.
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Huge Fire at Furniture Warehouse in Kansas City; No Injuries
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Up to 90 firefighters battled a massive fire at a three-story furniture warehouse in western Kansas City Tuesday afternoon. Fire Chief Paul Berardi says no one was inside the building when the fire was reported and he was not aware of any injuries. Dark black smoke could be seen for miles billowing from the warehouse at the location of Friday's Only Furniture Outlet. The building's owner told Berardi the warehouse is full of furniture but it wasn't immediately clear if it was an active business. The building is on a busy street lined with several restaurants and other businesses. Berardi says firefighters were working to ensure no embers spread to surrounding buildings.
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Kansas City Man Reportedly Focus of Global Corruption Case
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Associated Press has learned that an Iranian-born aviation mogul described as holding a stay-out-of-jail card due to his past work for the CIA is the focus of a new global criminal corruption case. The businessman is Farhad Azima, an American citizen who lives in Kansas City but frequently travels the globe. Authorities in the U.S. and abroad are investigating Azima as part of a global corruption case. Investigators are examining whether Azima, now 75, paid a kickback to a former United Arab Emirates official to reap the profits from a hotel sale in Tbilisi, Georgia. Azima declined to be interviewed.
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Suspect in Shooting at Kansas Trooper Held in Nebraska
LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) - Authorities say a man suspected of shooting at a Kansas state trooper has been arrested in south-central Nebraska. The Dawson County Sheriff's Office says 39-year-old Richard Gathercole, of San Jacinto, California, was arrested early Tuesday morning at a gas station on the south side of Lexington, Nebraska. A sheriff's deputy had spotted a pickup truck that Kansas authorities had said was stolen by a man who had fired at the trooper Monday along Interstate 70 near Goodland. The trooper wasn't hit. It's unclear what led to the shooting. Gathercole is charged in Nebraska with theft and with possession of stolen firearms. He remains in the Dawson County Jail this (WED) morning.
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Red Sox Defeat Royals 8-3 and Move to 1st Place in AL East.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale shut down the Kansas City Royals while pitching into the ninth inning, and a rag-tag bunch of Boston Red Sox filling in for injured starters pounded their way to an 8-3 victory Tuesday night that moved them into first place in the AL East. Sale (9-3) gave up a homer to Mike Moustakas in the second and a two-run shot to Jorge Bonifacio in the ninth before departing two outs shy of his second consecutive complete game. He allowed four hits and fanned 10, pushing his major league-leading strikeout total to 146 this season. Xander Bogaerts and Sandy Leon each drove in a pair of runs for Boston, which got plenty of production from a lineup missing Pablo Sandoval, Dustin Pedroia and Mitch Moreland to various injuries.
