Girl Wounded in KC-Area Rolling Gun Battle
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Police say a 9-year-old girl was shot and wounded during a rolling gun battle between two vehicles in Independence, Missouri. The Independence Police Department said in a Facebook post that its officers responded to numerous calls of shots fired shortly before 8 p.m. Friday. The injured girl and her mother were dropped off by the driver of one of the involved vehicles at a Walmart in Kansas City, Missouri. She is being treated at an area hospital.
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Kansas Supreme Court: Consent to Search Can be Non-Verbal
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court says an individual’s conduct can be relevant in determining whether a person has expressed valid consent to search. The ruling Friday came in the case of Gianni Massimo Daino. He allowed police to enter his apartment when he opened the door and stood aside for them to come in. The appeals court reversed a Johnson County District Court ruling that suppressed evidence after the warrantless search led to the discovery of marijuana and other incriminating evidence. It ruled that an individual’s nonverbal conduct can be relevant because a person may express valid consent through words, acts, or conduct.
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County Commissioner Resigns Amid Wichita Cover-up Plot
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Sedgwick county commissioner has resigned after the district attorney concluded there was sufficient evidence to begin ouster proceedings for his role in plotting to cover up their part in a false ad against a mayoral candidate in the state’s largest city. The Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell tendered his resignation Friday after District Attorney Marc Bennett notified his attorney that he intended to initiate legal proceedings for forfeiture of public office. The district attorney's office says in a news release it will release in the coming days information regarding two other officials who were investigated.
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Missouri Reports Record COVID-19 Hospitalizations
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri health officials are reporting the state’s biggest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases amid record hospitalizations across the state. Missouri now has 235,722 positive cases, an increase of 6,346 cases as of yesterday (SAT). The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services also reported on its website that the state's death toll rose by 14 to 3,373 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Hospitalizations across the state also hit a record of 2,523, an increase of about 23% in one week.
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Some Kansas Churches Halt In-Person Services Amid COVID Spike
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some churches in Kansas have suspended indoor, in-person worship services and the capital city’s zoo even has tightened its rules as the the state set another record for new coronavirus cases. The bishops of the two Episcopal Church dioceses that cover Kansas this week directed their congregations to suspend services and meetings. The United Methodist Church bishop for Kansas and Nebraska also encouraged its churches to suspend in-person services until further notice if they are in counties “identified as being in critical or dangerous statuses.” Kansas averaged a record 2,553 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases a day for the seven days ending Friday.
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Judge Rules Former Olathe Teacher Will Face Stalking Charge
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a stalking charge will stand against a former Olathe fourth-grade teacher accused of surreptitiously photographing one of his 10-year-old students. The Kansas City Star reports that a Johnson County judge on Thursday rejected the argument of ex-teacher James Loganbill's attorney that because the girl didn't know she was being photographed, she wouldn't have been fearful of the teacher, invalidating the charge reckless stalking. Police say the girl's classmates reported seeing Loganbill secretly taking photos of her from behind in class and on the playground. Investigators say that under questioning, Loganbill admitted taking the photos because he found the girl sexually attractive.
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KU Shuts Down Fraternity Following Hazing Investigation
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has announced it will shut down the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity chapter on campus at the end of the semester after an investigation found evidence of hazing and drug use. The Lawrence Journal-World reported Friday that university officials informed the chapter in a recent letter that it would be shuttered on November 25th. The letter says the earliest the fraternity could rejoin as a student organization would be in the spring of 2026. A copy of the letter released by KU to the Journal-World says that the fraternity was found responsible for harming or endangering members, hazing students as part of initiation and of having an “open culture of illegal drug use.”
