UPDATE: Crews Find Body of Missing 13-Year-Old in Clinton Lake
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have recovered the body of a missing 13-year-old boy in Clinton Lake near Lawrence. The Douglas County Sheriff's office says Jayion Harris-Jordan drowned while playing in an outlet of the lake Thursday evening. The boy's body was recovered Friday morning. The sheriff's office said his body was found not far from where he disappeared in the water. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the outlet at Clinton connects the lake with the Wakarusa River to the east. The sheriff's office said it would not release any more information about the drowning. Jayion was a student at Lawrence's Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.
(earlier reporting)
Body of Missing 13-Year-Old Boy Recovered from Clinton Lake; Victim Identified
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the body of a missing teenage boy has been recovered from Clinton Lake. Authorities identify the victim as 13-year-old Jayion Harris-Jordan, of Lawrence. The sheriff's office says he had been playing in the water east of the Clinton Outlet with others when he went under. He was recovered this (FRI) morning not far from where he went under yesterday (THUR) evening.
Search Continues at Clinton Lake for Missing 13-Year-Old
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - A search has resumed this (FRI) morning at Clinton Lake for a missing 13-year-old boy. Lt. Kristen Channel, with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, says the boy went underwater yesterday (THUR) while swimming at the lake. Multiple agencies and a helicopter searched for the boy until darkness fell last (THUR) night. The search has now turned into a recovery effort rather than a rescue. According to a report in the Lawrence Journal-World, first responders believe the boy has drowned.
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9-Year-Old Boy Dead After Falling into Path of Oncoming Car in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Authorities say a 9-year-old boy has died after falling into the path of an oncoming car in a Kansas City neighborhood. KMBC-TV reports that it happened last (THUR) night when the boy lost his balance while coming down a steep hill. Witnesses told investigators that he then tripped and fell into the street. Police say the driver didn't see the boy and ran over him. Authorities say she stopped and was cooperating with the investigation. The boy's name wasn't immediately released.
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Kansas Governor's Approval Rating Climbs
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR / KNS) - A new poll shows Governor Laura Kelly has climbed in popularity after her first legislative session as governor. But, almost a third of Kansans still don’t have an opinion of the Democratic leader. An organization called Morning Consult polled registered voters and found Kelly had a 49 percent approval rating and 22 percent disapproval. That approval number is up by about six points since the beginning of the year. University of Kansas political scientist Patrick Miller told Kansas Public Radio that Kelly scored some big wins during the legislative session, including a school funding plan that effectively ended a long-running lawsuit over education spending. Miller says Kelly is like most new governors, who struggle to build name recognition. A year ago, a similar number of Kansas residents hadn’t yet decided what they thought of then-Governor Jeff Colyer.
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2 New Vaccines Required for Some Kansas School Students
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Students in certain grades at Kansas public and private schools will be required to have two new vaccinations this year. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Thursday that students entering kindergarten and first grade will need two doses of a hepatitis A vaccine. Students entering seventh grade will need one dose of the meningococcal ACWY vaccine. And students starting their junior year will need the meningococcal ACWY vaccine if they have not been vaccinated before their 16th birthday. The new requirements take effect August 2. Kansas allows exemptions from vaccines only for medical and religious reasons. Health department Secretary Lee Norman said the agency collected public input before proposing the new requirements. He said meningitis and hepatitis A are both severe diseases that are preventable with vaccines.
(additional reporting)
New Hepatitis A Vaccine Requirement Approved for Kansas School Kids
TOPEKA, Kan. (KCUR / KNS) - Kansas has finalized its requirement that kids get hepatitis A shots for school. The shot is already required for daycare. Wichita pediatrician Gretchen Homan told the Kansas News Service that hep A spreads through contaminated food and water. Some people get sick briefly from the liver infection. For others, the nausea, fatigue and other symptoms last for months. The U.S. has seen widespread hep A outbreaks since 2016, with more than 13,000 hospitalizations and 200 deaths. Last month, a federal panel of health experts called for kids and teens who haven’t received hep A shots to get them now.
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Lawsuit Claims Kansas Woman Mechanic Was Sexually Harassed
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) _ A woman mechanic has filed a lawsuit accusing her former freight yard employer of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. The lawsuit filed July 12 in Kansas District Court says the woman's supervisor and coworkers at Moore Freight Service regularly harassed and demeaned her by calling her derogatory names. Daseke Inc., which bought Moore Freight in 2016, declined The Kansas City Star 's request for comment. She was the only female diesel mechanic when she started working for Moore Freight Service in Spring Hill in 2011. The suit says the harassment just got worse when she complained to human resources and that she was fired less than two weeks after she filed that complaint. The suit says she was fired for insubordination.
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Missouri River Remains High Because of Releases from Dams
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The lower Missouri River is likely to remain high throughout the summer because of the large amount of water being released from dams upstream. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it needs to keep the releases high to clear out space in all the dams along the river. So it will continue releasing more than double the average amount of water from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border at least into August. National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Dergan says the Missouri River isn't likely to go down much until the releases from the dams are reduced. The significant releases may worsen flooding downstream - in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas - where many levees were damaged during severe flooding in March.
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Kansas Priest Charged with Possessing Child Porn
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - A former Kansas priest has been charged with possessing child pornography. The Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, says it reported Christopher Rossman to authorities in September 2016 after learning he had accessed inappropriate content on his computer. Rossman was suspended from the ministry at that time. The archdiocese said it received information that an FBI investigation resulted in the charge being filed. At the time, Rossman was pastor at churches in Baldwin City and Lapeer. He had previously worked at churches in Olathe, Topeka, Holton, Mayetta and on the Potawatomi Reservation. Rossman's attorney, Scott Toth, says it was too early to comment on the case.
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USDA: Workers Will Arrive in Kansas City Area Next Week
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR / KNS) - The U,S. Department of Agriculture tells KCUR Radio that the first workers with its two relocating research agencies will report for work in the Kansas City area on Monday. But the agency says nearly two-thirds of the current employees at the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, and the Economic Research Service (ERS) will quit rather than move. The loss of so many seasoned researchers worries Democrats, who argue that the move was designed to gut ag research. But Scott Hutchinson, the deputy undersecretary of agriculture who’s in charge of the research agencies, says work will continue. The USDA plans to have both ERS and NIFA up and running in Kansas City by the end of September, but it hasn’t disclosed a location for the new offices.
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Missouri Man Sentenced in Rape, Kidnapping of Kansas Deputy
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri man has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a Kansas sheriff's deputy. Brady Newman-Caddell, of Independence, was sentenced Friday. He pleaded guilty last year to rape, kidnapping and sodomy. William Luth, of Blue Springs, Missouri, was sentenced last year to more than 41 years in prison for his role in the crime. Prosecutors said the two men kidnapped the Johnson County deputy in October 2016. They forced her into a car and took turns raping and sodomizing her before eventually releasing her. They were also charged in the February 2016 rape of an Independence woman. Luth pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced in January to 30 years. The case against Newman-Caddell in the Missouri case is pending.
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Inmate Hospitalized After Fall at Kansas Fairgrounds
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas inmate has been taken to a hospital after he fell while working on the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. The Hutchinson News reports that police say 38-year-old Christopher Boothby was on a lift working on a flag pole when he fell about 14 feet and hit his head. He is listed in fair condition at Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita. Kansas Department of Correction records show Boothby has been at the Hutchinson prison since March, after he was recommitted for a probation violation. His original convictions, out of Stevens County, included two separate cases of aggravated assault and criminal threat in 2014, and a 2018 conviction for a third offense of attempting to flee and elude law enforcement. He is scheduled to be released in September.
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Bankers: Trade War Having Negative Effect on Rural Economies
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - More bankers surveyed in parts of 10 Plains and Western states say President Donald Trump's trade skirmishes are having a negative effect on their local economies. The Rural Mainstreet survey released Thursday shows the survey's overall index falling from 53.2 in June to 50.2 this month. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy, while a score below 50 indicates a shrinking economy. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, says higher agriculture commodity prices and rebuilding from recent floods helped prop up the region's economy last month. But he added that nearly 9 of 10 bankers surveyed noted the tariffs' negative impact on the economy. That's up from 8 in 10 who said the same thing in September. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.
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Relatives: Victims Might Have Lived If Standoff Had Been Shorter
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Relatives are questioning why police waited two hours to bust into a Kansas City, Kansas, market where two people lay dying and arrest the gunman holed up inside. The Kansas City Star reports that Christina Bennett-Smith says her uncle, Dennis Edwards, who owned the market, and customer Lachell Day could be alive if police entered the building sooner. Day's friend, 39-year-old Jermelle Andre-Lamont Byers, is charged with first-degree and second-degree murder and other counts in the July 10 attack. Police say a responding officer shot Byers once after he pointed a handgun. Byers then retreated and was arrested after a standoff. Day, who was 42, died the next day. Edwards, who was 62, died at the scene. Police defended officers' actions, saying they responded as quickly as they could.
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Wichita Officer Pleads Not Guilty to Helping with Warrant
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita police officer accused of helping a woman with an outstanding warrant has pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanors. Matthew Powell has been on unpaid leave since he was charged in June with obstructing apprehension or prosecution and two counts of official misconduct. The Wichita Eagle reports investigators allege Powell helped a woman avoid police who were searching for her in May. Details of how and why he helped the woman have not been released. He entered his plea during a court appearance Wednesday. Powell's attorney, Jess Hoeme, said the case involves a failure to communicate and his client is not guilty of the charges. He did not elaborate on the communication problem. Police spokesman Charley Davidson said Wednesday Powell remains on unpaid administrative leave.
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Missouri Man Fined for Pointing Laser at Tom Brady
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri man has been fined $500 for pointing a laser at New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the AFC championship with the Kansas City Chiefs in January. Dwyan Morgan pleaded guilty this week to a misdemeanor, disturbing the peace. He will pay the fine with no jail time. Footage of the game showed a green light flashing on Brady late in the Patriots' 37-31 overtime win on January 20 at Arrowhead Stadium. Prosecutors say Brady was unaware of the laser. Laser pointers are banned from sports events and other activities because even a short burst of the light can damage the retina.
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