Kansas COVID Cases Top 200
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas now has 202 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Health officials said Friday that a Kansas City-area man in his 80s with underlying health concerns was the fourth death recorded in the state. On Friday, the state's reported number of infections rose by 34 to 202 from a day earlier. Dr. Lee Norman, the state's health secretary, says data suggests the state's coronavirus cases could peak in mid- to late April, with at least 900 cases. Norman says if the projections are true, he is confident the state will have the hospital capacity to treat all the cases.
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Kansas Unemployment Claims Jump 1200%
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.
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Missouri Governor Mobilizes National Guard for COVID Fight
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri is bracing for a surge of coronavirus patients as the number of deaths has grown to nine. The governor is mobilizing the state's National Guard. A top St. Louis County official is urging recently retired health care workers to return to work. Gov. Mike Parson said Friday in a statement that the use of the National Guard will enhance coordination among state government partners and help the state “overcome this global pandemic." Figures from state health officials show the number of confirmed cases increased to 670 on Friday, up 168 from a day earlier.
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Kansas, Missouri Disagree on Bass Pro Remaining Open
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Officials in neighboring counties disagree on whether Bass Pro Shops on opposite sides of the Kansas-Missouri border should remain open during the coronavirus pandemic. The Kansas City Star reports that officials in Johnson County, Kansas, say the company's store in Olathe is allowed to remain open because the chain sells packaged foods and it falls under the exemptions for grocery stores in the county’s order. In Jackson County, Missouri, however, the Bass Pro location seemed to be selling primarily guns and ammunition and a county health official said the agency would be telling the owners they're violating the county's order. Bass Pro Shops has kept both locations open because it believes the public has the right to access guns and ammunition during an emergency.
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Kansas Firefighters Battling 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.
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Court Filing: KU Coach 'Encouraged' NCAA Rule Violations
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Athletics Inc. contends in a newly unsealed court filing that it has evidence former football coach David Beaty “allowed and encouraged NCAA violations” while at the University of Kansas. The memo was filed by the university's lawyers in January and unsealed this past week. It says those alleged violations has “resulted in several hundred thousand" dollars in legal fees for Kansas Athletics. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the filing includes transcripts of interviews with players and members of the football staff that that the university says suggest that NCAA rule violations occurred under Beaty.
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Father: Kansas Grants Parole to 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. Her body was found seven months later.
