Headlines for Monday, March 30, 2020

UPDATE: Kansas Death Toll from New Coronavirus Grows to 9

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As a statewide stay-at-home order took effect and the Kansas coronavirus death toll grew to nine, President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration for the state. Trump's order allows for federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a news release Monday from the White House. Also Monday, the state's health secretary, Dr. Lee Norman, said a nursing home in eastern Kansas has at least seven confirmed cases among staff and residents. The Life Care Center in Burlington is part of a chain that includes a home in Kansas City, Kansas, where the state's first COVID-19 death was reported. The latest two Kansas deaths are a Sedgwick County man over the age of 60 with underlying health conditions and a woman in her 40s in Crawford County. The deaths are the first in the southern part of the state. Most of the others were in the Kansas City area. 

Earlier reporting...

Kansas Stay-at-Home Rule Allows Religious Worship, Gun Sales

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — All 2.9 million Kansas residents are under a stay-at-home order imposed by Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. It took effect early today (MON) as the numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases and COVID-19-related deaths surged past 300 this past weekend.  Positive cases of COVID-19 are expected to keep climbing, maybe for the next month.  It helped Kelly's case with the Republican-controlled Legislature that exceptions in her order for "essential" outside-the-home activities include religious worship and selling guns.  Other exceptions allow people to buy food and get medical care. The Legislature's top leaders can revoke Kelly's orders but no one spoke against her stay-at-home directive during a meeting Sunday. The order will remain in force until at least April 19.

Top Kansas Lawmakers Let Governor's Statewide "Stay-at-Home" Order Stand

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Leaders of the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature have agreed that Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's statewide stay-at-home order is necessary to help check the spread of the new coronavirus.  Their acceptance of the order Sunday allows it to take effect as planned. The order will remain in place until at least April 19. The top seven legislative leaders include five Republicans and they had the power to revoke Kelly's order. But they made no move to do so during a half-hour teleconference meeting. Health officials said Kansas has 319 cases in 35 of the state's 105 counties and seven COVID-19-related deaths.

The Kansas News Service maintains this resource about the pandemic: Updated Regularly: What Kansans Need to Know About COVID-19 and Coronavirus   
 
KPR's Coronavirus Information and Resources Guide. 

==========

Kansas Has 12 Times as Many Weekly Claims for Unemployment

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The number of jobless workers in Kansas who filed initial unemployment claims last week was 12 times as high as it was the week before as measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus took their toll on the economy. The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that Kansas had almost 23,700 initial claims for unemployment for the seven-day period ending Saturday. The department said the figure for the previous week was less than 1,800. The increase was 1,250%. It was easily the largest percentage jump in at least 20 years. Some 62% of the state's residents face local stay-at-home orders.

==========

School Food Prep Worker Tests Positive for Coronavirus

TONGANOXIE, Kan. (AP) — An eastern Kansas school district is suspending its grab-and-go sack lunch program for a week after a worker with the district’s drive-thu program tested positive for the coronavirus. The Tonganoxie school district said in a statement that it is placing staff members who came in contact with the fellow worker in a 14-day quarantine. The district said it also is following all infection control protocols, including thoroughly sanitizing the meal preparation area before and after meal preparations. District officials say that the person did not come in direct contact with students or families and was only involved with meal preparations.

==========

Kansas Firefighters Battle Wildfires in Barber County

MEDICINE LODGE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas National Guard has sent two helicopters to help local firefighters battle wildfires burning about 20-25 miles southwest of Medicine Lodge in Barber County. The agency says in a news release that the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the Kansas National Guard's 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation out of Salina are equipped with collapsible 660-gallon water buckets. The Kansas Forest Service has also deployed an air tanker to make water drops. Governor Laura Kelly has issued a disaster declaration for the fires.

==========

President Approves Kansas Disaster Declaration Amid Statewide "Stay at Home" Order

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As a statewide stay-at-home order took effect today (MON), President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration for Kansas. A White House news release says Trump's order allows for federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly decided to issue the stay-at-home order for all 2.9 million Kansas residents as the numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases and COVID-19-related deaths continue to grow. State health officials said Sunday that Kansas has 319 cases in 35 of the state's 105 counties, with the number growing from Saturday by 58, or 22%.

==========

Kansas Businessman Enters GOP Senate Primary

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (The Kansas City Star) — Kansas businessman Bob Hamilton is running as a Republican for U.S. Senate. The Kansas City Star reports that Hamilton announced his candidacy Monday. Hamilton is among numerous Republicans vying for retiring four-term Sen. Pat Roberts' seat. Other candidates including hardline conservative Kris Kobach. Rep. Roger Marshall, state Senate President Susan Wagle and Kansas City-area businessman Dave Lindstrom also are running. Campaign events are now on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hamilton cited the economic crisis caused by the virus as a reason he decided to run for U.S. Senate. Hamilton owns Bob Hamilton Plumbing. 

==========

Death of Southeast Kansas Father, Son Investigated as Murder-Suicide

GALENA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the shooting deaths of a father and son at a southeast Kansas home as a murder-suicide. Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves said in a news release that deputies were called to a rural Galena home at around 3:30 p.m. Sunday for a reported shooting. Deputies found two dead men inside the home. Groves said the preliminary investigation indicates that 50-year-old Danny Allen Pennock got a firearm while arguing with his dad, 77-year-old Danny Wayne Pennock, and then shot him before killing himself. Two women who live at the home weren't hurt during the shooting.

==========

Democratic Leader Becomes 12th Person in Missouri to Die from COVID-19

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Democratic Party leader in western Missouri has died after contracting COVID-19. The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the state has risen to 12 and the total confirmed cases has now exceeded 900, but health officials were hoping that a brief slowdown in its spread would continue today (MON).  The death of Willam “Al” Grimes, the Henry County Democratic Party chairman, was announced Sunday in a tweet from state Chairwoman Jean Peters Baker. The number of coronavirus cases confirmed in Missouri rose by 65 on Sunday to 903, but the 8% jump was smaller than the average 45% daily increase during the previous week.

==========

Missouri Student and Teacher Use 3D Printer to Make Face Shields Amid Virus Outbreak

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri student and teacher are using 3D printing to supply health care facilities in the area with face shields amid the coronavirus outbreak. A.T. Still University has recruited senior Caleb Flaim and Kirksville Area Technical Center engineering instructor Rich Chapman to help keep equipment stocked at Northeast Regional Medical Center and Kirksville Family Medicine. The Kirksville Daily Express reports that the project started after university officials saw stories across the world about supply shortages due to the pandemic. Flaim and Chapman are printing face shields to be worn over the N95 masks that health care workers usually wear.

==========

Police: Man Whose Body Was Found in Ditch a Likely Homicide

VALLEY CENTER, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County authorities the death of a 26-year-old Wichita man whose body was found in a ditch is being investigated as a homicide. Zackary Tilson's body was found Friday in a ditch near Valley Center. Deputies found the body after someone reported a red pickup truck parked on a nearby road.  While investigating the truck, deputies discovered Tilson's body in a nearby ditch. The sheriff's office has not said how Tilson died. 

==========

Father: Kansas Grants Parole to Nancy Shoemaker's Kidnapper

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The family of a 9-year-old Wichita girl who was killed in 1990 says a man who kidnapped her and watched as she was raped and strangled has been granted parole. Her father, Bo Shoemaker, told The Wichita Eagle that the family was notified of the decision to grant parole to Donald Wacker. Wacker and Doil Lane snatched Nancy Shoemaker off a busy Wichita street on July 30, 1990 and drove her to a field in Sumner County, where Lane raped and strangled her with a belt as Wacker watched.  The young girl's body was found seven months later.

==========

Man in His 20s Found Dead in Kansas Ditch

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A homicide investigation is under way in Sedgwick County after a man in his 20s was found in a ditch. The Wichita Eagle reports that the victim was found Friday morning near Valley Center after authorities received a call about a vehicle parked in the road. Deputies found an unoccupied Dodge pickup and the man unresponsive in a nearby ditch. The Sedgwick County Fire Department pronounced the man dead at the scene. The victim's name has not been released.

==========

Kansas Democrats Voting by Mail... but Only in the Presidential Primary

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Democrats have scrapped plans for polling sites for their May 2 presidential primary and are having the election entirely with mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic. State Chairwoman Vicki Hiatt says polling sites are "going to be too risky" and some were at public schools and community colleges that have closed. The party has begun mailing ballots to almost 390,000 people registered as Democrats as of early March. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas has more than tripled in less than a week, to 368 reported by the state health department. Nine COVID-19-related deaths have been reported.

==========

Missouri Church Holds Drive-in Services to Fight Coronavirus Outbreak

FULTON, Mo. (AP) — A church in Fulton held its first drive-in services in its parking lot as it practices social distancing to slow down the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 35 people gathered in their cars outside Ebenezer Baptist Church on March 22, with more joining the service via Facebook. The Fulton Star reports that the service featured music, prayers and jokes as snowflakes hit the ground. Although churches in Missouri haven’t been ordered to stop meeting in-person, Ebenezer’s leaders decided to do the service this way as a precaution.

==========

'There's No Blueprint' - Virus Upends College Athletic Recruiting

This is typically the time of year U.S. college coaches are trying to land recruits. Instead, most of the country is on lock-down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Coaches such as Michigan's Kim Barnes Arico and Kansas's Bill Self are forced to look for creative ways to reach out to athletes. Text messages, social media and phone calls are a start. FaceTime and Zoom conferences have become popular. It is unknown if they can adequately replace the face-to-face relationships that are so crucial to recruiting.