Kansas Governor Signs New Legislative, School Board Maps
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has signed a redistricting measure expected to preserve Republican supermajorities in the Kansas Legislature. The measure she signed Friday also would make it possible for conservatives to elect more members to the state school board. Kelly didn't say why she signed the measure in announcing her action, but she previously had praised the new House and Senate maps. The new legislative lines also had bipartisan support. The State Board of Education map was more contentious because there were board members opposing it. The Kansas Constitution requires the state Supreme Court to review the legislative maps and rule on their validity within 45 days.
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Kansas Governor Nixes Bills on Trans Athletes, Parents' Role in School Curriculum
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed conservative Republicans’ proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports and a GOP proposal aimed at making it easier for parents to try to remove materials from public school classrooms and libraries. Neither measure vetoed Friday cleared the Republican-controlled Legislature with the two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate necessary to override a veto. Kansas lawmakers are on their annual spring break but are scheduled to reconvene April 25. Kelly argued both were driving by politics. Republicans say the measure on transgender athletes protects competition and called the other measure a proposed “Parents' Bill of Rights.”
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Crews Fight Explosion, Fire at Gas Plant in South-Central Kansas
HAVEN, Kan. (AP) — Emergency management and fire fighting crews have been battling a blaze that broke out after an explosion at a gas plant in central Kansas. Reno County Emergency Manager Adam Weishaar says crews were called to the Haven Midstream plant Thursday afternoon. He says two people with minor injuries were taken to a Wichita hospital. Weishaar told KWCH-TV that there is no risk to the public. About 90 residents were temporarily evacuated from an area around the plant, about a mile outside of Haven. Th Reno County town is about 33 miles northwest of Wichita. Kansas Highway 96 near the plant was closed for several hours but most area roads have since reopened.( Read more in the Hutch News)
(Additional reporting...)
Evacuation Lifted Near Reno County Gas Plant Rocked by Blast
HAVEN, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are allowing people to return to their homes near a Reno County gas plant a day after an explosion rocked the plant and led to a fire there. Television station KSN reports that officials lifted the evacuation order Friday morning after about 90 people were evacuated Thursday and sent to hotels for the night. Fire and emergency management crews were called to the Haven Midstream plant Thursday afternoon for an explosion and fire. Two people suffered minor injuries and were taken to a Wichita hospital. Residents within a 2-mile radius of the plant were evacuated following the explosion. The plant is located near Haven, which is about 33 miles northwest of Wichita. Kansas Highway 96 near the plant was also closed by has since mostly reopened.
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3 Sheriff's Deputies Shot, Suspect Killed in Cowley County
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) — Law enforcement officers say three sheriff's deputies were shot and a suspect was killed during a confrontation in south central Kansas. Cowley County Sheriff David Falletti said the deputies were following a car that had been reported as suspicious Thursday. The sheriff says shots were fired when deputies contacted the driver on U.S. 77 north of Winfield. Three deputies were taken to a hospital in Wichita. Falletti said they were in stable condition. The female suspect was found dead at the scene. The sheriff said he did not immediately have information about what led up to the shooting.
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Kansas Governor Signs Mega Tax Cut Bill into Law
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has signed a mega-tax-cut bill into law. The measure includes tax breaks for homeowners, teachers and the state’s aviation industry. The bill includes tax breaks for just about everyone - about $100 million worth. It doubles the value of the income tax exemption that Kansans get for the property taxes they pay. It creates a new personal exemption for disabled veterans and a $250 tax credit for teachers who spend their own money on classroom supplies. There are also benefits for the state’s critical aviation industry. Tax credits that aerospace companies can claim to offset some of their payroll and training costs. Farmers and ranchers recovering from wildfires also get some help. No state sales tax will be charged on the materials they need to replace the miles of fencing that burned.
(AP reporting...)
Residential Property Owners in Kansas to See Tax Break
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Governor Laura Kelly has signed a measure into law to give Kansas home and apartment-building owners a small property tax break. She signed the legislation Thursday, and it includes a grab-bag of changes expected to cut taxes by $310 million over the next three years. About $134 million of the savings would go to owners of residential property. The state imposes a property tax to help fund public schools but exempts the first $20,000 from the levy. The measure Kelly signed increases that exemption to $40,000, saving the owners of any residential property worth that much or more $46 a year.
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Report: Kansas May Have Overpaid Private Medicaid Companies by Millions of Dollars
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) —A new report from the Kansas Attorney General’s office found evidence that Kansas Medicaid programs may have overpaid millions of dollars for home-based care. The report says the state is overpaying private companies by millions of dollars for some types of Medicaid benefits. For example, the report suggests Kansas paid $8 million to rent Life Alert equipment for hundreds of people in recent years, even though the state could have paid as little as $55,000 for that equipment rental. The report also suggests the private companies that run Kansas Medicaid are not doing a good job of checking whether enrolled people remain eligible. Kansas privatized most of its Medicaid system in 2013.
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Kansas GOP Ties New School Funds to 'Choice,' Other Policies
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State funds for Kansas’ public schools have been held up as Republican lawmakers push for policies critics say would punish educators for court rulings that forced the GOP-controlled Legislature to boost its spending. A legislative proposal ties $6.4 billion in spending to policies pushed by conservative Republicans that include an “open enrollment” proposal to allow parents to send their children to any public school with enough space. Republicans drafted the package before lawmakers began their annual spring break earlier this month. Legislators reconvene April 25. Conservatives argue that they're trying to make schools more accountable. Critics say it's payback for seven Kansas Supreme Court rulings that forced spending increases.
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Oklahoma's New Ban on Abortion Likely to Increase Number of Women Seeking Abortions to Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) - A near-total ban on abortion in Oklahoma may increase the number of women seeking services in Kansas. The Kansas News Service reports that a clinic in Wichita already serves a high number of out-of-state people. Oklahoma's Republican governor signed legislation this week that makes providing an abortion a felony crime. Oklahoma joins several Republican-led states near Kansas to enact strict abortion laws. Zack Gingrich-Gaylord is with Trust Women, an abortion rights organization. He says people from states with abortion bans are still seeking services, crowding remaining clinics and sending more women to Kansas. “In Wichita, we are seeing around 50% out of state, and the vast majority of those people are from Oklahoma," he said. But Kansas may soon enact a ban. Voters will be asked in August to approve a state constitutional amendment that would say there's no right to abortion in Kansas. That would allow for stricter laws.
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2 Bird Flu Cases Confirmed in U.S. Zoos as Avian Virus Spreads
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two cases of bird flu have been confirmed in U.S. zoos, but officials said they won’t order widespread euthanasia of zoo birds the way they have on farms. Agriculture Department spokesman Mike Stepien declined to release any details about the zoo cases Thursday. Many zoos across the country have closed down their aviaries and moved birds inside whenever possible to help protect them from bird flu that officials believe is primarily being spread by the droppings of wild birds. Nearly 27 million chickens and turkeys have been slaughtered in 26 states to limit the spread of bird flu during this year’s outbreak. Officials order entire flocks to be killed when the disease is found on farms.
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Feds Agree to Return $1.1 Million to Company Busted for Hauling Legal Weed Money in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) - In a possible harbinger of how a similar case in Kansas might end, the government has agreed to return more than $1 million it seized from an armored car company that was transporting cash from state-licensed cannabis businesses in California. Last year, a Dickinson County, Kansas, sheriff’s deputy stopped one of Empyreal Logistics’ vehicles on I-70 and seized nearly $166,000 it was transporting to Colorado from legal marijuana dispensaries in Kansas City, Missouri. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas later filed a forfeiture action against Empyreal, arguing the seized cash came from sales that violated federal law. Empyreal ran into a similar problem in California, where authorities also seized cash it was transporting from legal cannabis businesses. Empyreal sued over the seizures, and now the Justice Department has agreed to return the money it seized in California. Empyreal, in turn, has dropped its lawsuit. In court documents, the U.S. Attorney in Kansas says it’s working toward a resolution of the case here. ( Read more from KCUR Radio.)
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Fatal House Party Shooting Caps Deadly Day in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Police say a shooting at a house party early Wednesday in Kansas City left one person dead and two others injured, capping a violent 24 hours in the city that saw four people killed in separate incidents. Police say officers in the Ivanhoe Northeast neighborhood early Wednesday morning heard several gunshots and found victims at a home nearby. Police say one person was pronounced dead at the scene, and another person was taken to a hospital in critical condition. A third person suffered minor injuries and declined medical treatment. The death marked the fourth homicide in Kansas City in a 24-hour period, including the separate shooting deaths of a woman and a man and the stabbing death Tuesday of a middle school student at his school. After the latest outbreak of violence, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he believes law enforcement is vital, but it can't be the only answer to the city's problem with deadly violence. Lucas said Children's Mercy Hospital is promoting a plan to address mental health issues among young people. The $3 million cost for implementing the proposal would come from federal stimulus money.
(-Related-)
After Violent 24-Hour Period, KC May Use Federal Funds
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Another rash of killings in Kansas City, Missouri, has the mayor considering the use of federal funds to try and address the problem. The Kansas City Star reported Thursday that five people were killed in less than 24 hours in the Kansas City area — four in Kansas City, Missouri, and one in Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told the Star in a phone interview that he hopes to help stop violence suing some of the $195 million distributed to Kansas City from the American Rescue Plan Act. City leaders will determine how the money is spent.
Kansas City Middle School Student Dies After Being Stabbed at School
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP/KPR) - Kansas City police say a middle school student has died of his injuries after being stabbed, reportedly by another student at school. The stabbing occurred Tuesday morning in a bathroom at Northeast Middle School in Kansas City, Missouri. Police spokeswoman Donna Drake says another student, also a boy, was detained after the stabbing. Drake says the two students had some type of confrontation but the motive for the stabbing is still being investigated. The school, which teaches seventh and eighth grade students, was locked down briefly following discovery of the stabbing and classes were canceled for the remainder of Tuesday.
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Parsons Man Convicted of Child Sex Crimes
PARSONS, Kan. (KPR) – A southeast Kansas man has been convicted of two child sex offenses under a statute known as Jessica’s Law. The Kansas Attorney General's office says 37-year-old Jared W. Bybee, of Parsons, pleaded no contest Wednesday in Labette County District Court to two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy. Judge Steve Stockard accepted Bybee’s plea and set sentencing for September 23. Under Jessica’s Law, Bybee faces a presumptive sentence of life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years for each count before he's eligible for parole. The crimes occurred between 2013 and 2016 and involved two different victims under the age of 10. The case was investigated by the Parsons Police Department, Kansas Department for Children and Families and the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory.
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Prosecutors Drop Child Abuse Charge Against Day Care Owner
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors in Johnson County have dropped a felony child abuse charge brought against a Shawnee day care operator, citing new evidence that showed the child was unharmed when he left her care. The Kansas City Star reports that the decision came last month in the case of 55-year-old Katherine Konon. The charge filed in 2019 accused Konon of striking a 6-month-old boy, causing a brain bleed. Tom Bath, Konon's defense attorney, says Konon has always maintained her innocence and is evaluating her options after losing a business she ran for more than a decade and incurring court-related costs.
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Kansas Judiciary Re-Thinking Approaches to Mentally Ill Defendants
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — Court officials from around the state met in Topeka Wednesday to rethink the legal system’s approach to mental health. Speakers at the summit say too many people with mental health issues are ending up in jail instead of getting treatment. Steve Leifman is an associate administrative judge in Miami, Florida. He says courts need to focus more on mental health treatment for people with legal troubles and less on incarcerating them. “Most people can recover from these illnesses. We just have to make sure we are providing them the right treatment and by allowing them access to that treatment.” Leifman says prioritizing mental health treatment when people run into legal problems can reduce recidivism and save the state money.
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Man Who Fatally Hurt Baby, then Played Video Games, Sentenced
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas father who reportedly played video games after fatally injuring one of his twin infant children has been sentenced to more than 26 years in prison. Television station KAKE reports that 25-year-old Marlin Williams Jr. was sentenced Thursday to 316 months in prison. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder in the January 2020 death of his 2-month-old son, Marrell, and to three counts of aggravated battery for abusing the baby and his twin sister. Williams told police he was frustrated with the infants' crying and squeezed his son's head “extra hard" before leaving the room to go play video games for around a half-hour. Doctors later found that Marrell had suffered two skull fractures and that his twin sister had suffered a broken femur.
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Woman Sentenced for Fatal Crash During Wichita Police Chase
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 27-year-old woman has been sentenced to life in prison after a May 2019 crash during a police chase killed two people and injured well-known Wichita musician Jenny Wood. Mia Collins pleaded guilty in October to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 70-year-old Maria Wood and her 12-year-old granddaughter, Rosemary McElroy, who were Jenny Wood's mother and niece. They were in a car that collided with one driven by Collins, who was fleeing from police. The driver of another car, Alfred Angel, also was seriously injured. During sentencing on Thursday, Wood said police shared blame for initiating a car chase through downtown Wichita that reached 75 mph.
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One of State's Oldest Recycling Programs Keeps on Recycling in Newton
NEWTON, Kan. (KNS) - One of the oldest recycling programs in Kansas has found a way to keep going. The Newton City Commission voted this week to approve a 5-year contract with a Hutchinson-based company called Nisly Brothers for curbside recycling pickup. The city had been searching for a way to keep recycling after the Harvey County Commission failed to renew its contract with Waste Connections. Erin McDaniel is the communications director for Newton. She says recycling has been a big deal to residents for many years. “Harvey County adopted mandatory recycling in 1999, and a lot of our civic leaders were very proud of that," she said. About 27% of customers in Newton choose to recycle. Kansas currently recycles about 33% of its waste.
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Fertilizer Company Complains About Railroad Shipment Limits
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A major fertilizer company says the limits Union Pacific is putting on rail traffic to clear up congestion will delay shipments that farmers rely on during the spring planting season. CF Industries said Thursday that the railroad had ordered it to cut its shipments nearly 20%. Union Pacific has said it is limiting rail traffic and hiring aggressively as part of a plan to improve service after grain and ethanol shippers complained about shortcomings. CF Industries CEO Tony Will said the shipment limits couldn't come at a worse time for farmers. Federal regulators have announced plans to hold a hearing later this month about the service problems along U.S. railroads.
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Kansas Governor Vetoes Local Bans on Plastic Bags, Straws
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would prevent cities and counties from banning, limiting or even taxing plastic bags, straws and food containers. Kelly rejected the measure this week after previously telling reporters that she was a “major local-control advocate.” The Senate approved the measure first in February, but its initial version did not explicitly cover plastic straws. The House made sure it did before passing the measure. The measure was backed by groups representing small business owners, restaurant operators and plastic bag manufacturers. Environmentalists see plastic trash as a serious problem worldwide and argued for allowing cities and counties to set their own policies.
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Charges Refiled in Missouri Boat Sinking that Killed 17
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has refiled criminal charges against three men involved in the sinking of a tourist boat that killed 17 people in 2018. A judge dismissed first-degree involuntary manslaughter charges on April 5 against Kenneth McKee, Curtis Lanham and Charles Baltzell related to the sinking of a tourist boat on Table Rock Lake near Branson. Schmitt said in a statement this week that his office is committed to seeking justice for the 17 victims. Riders from Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Arkansas died when the boat sank.
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Lack of Child Care Having Ripple Effects in Kansas Economy
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) _ Finding childcare in Kansas is difficult. The group Child Care Aware of Eastern Kansas estimates that about 153,000 children in Kansas need child care but only 74,000 spots are available statewide. Kansas lost about 800 family care homes during the pandemic and those that remain open are now struggling to hire workers. Fewer facilities and a smaller workforce has some places completely booked for a year. A lack of available spots is preventing some parents from re-entering the workforce. If a family can’t find someone to watch their child, they have to stay home. The issue can be especially acute in rural Kansas. Rural communities often have very few childcare options and if one or two providers close, it has a huge impact. Some communities are looking into pooling resources and applying for grant money. ( Read more.)
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Why Scientists Want to Get Rid of Bradford Pear Trees - and Say You Should Too
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KNS) - Invasive plants, like Bradford pear trees, are spreading like weeds across Kansas and Missouri - and wiping out food supplies for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. Tree experts say now is the perfect time to get rid of them. As beautiful as they are, scientists say these ornamental pear trees crowd out native species and harm the local ecosystem. ( Read more.)
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Kansas Now Has a State Fruit: the Sandhill Plum
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) _Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed legislation Tuesday designating the sandhill plum as the official state fruit of Kansas. A group of Kansas elementary school students succeeded in their quest to designate an official state fruit. The effort began in 2021 when fourth and fifth grade students from 24 schools wrote essays and sent letters to state representatives. Busloads of fourth and fifth graders from across the state traveled to the Kansas Statehouse to witness Governor Kelly signing the bill. According to the Kansas Forest Service, the sandhill plum is the most common wild plum in southern and western Kansas.
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University of Louisville Coach Payne Adds Danny Manning to Cardinals Staff
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville head coach Kenny Payne has hired former University of Kansas great and college basketball Hall of Famer Danny Manning as an assistant, a month after the coaching veteran completed an interim stint at Maryland. Manning guided the Terrapins to a 15-17 finish after taking over for Mark Turgeon in December. He was 78-111 as Wake Forest’s coach from 2014-2020 and 38-29 with Tulsa from 2012-14 after working as a Kansas assistant the previous six seasons. Manning led KU to the 1988 NCAA championship as a two-time All-American before becoming the No. 1 overall selection in that year’s NBA Draft. He earned NBA All-Star honors in 1993 and ’94.
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These area headlines are curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Kaye McIntyre, and Tom Parkinson. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays, 11 am weekends. This news summary is made possible by KPR listener-members. Become one today!