© 2024 Kansas Public Radio

91.5 FM | KANU | Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City
96.1 FM | K241AR | Lawrence (KPR2)
89.7 FM | KANH | Emporia
99.5 FM | K258BT | Manhattan
97.9 FM | K250AY | Manhattan (KPR2)
91.3 FM | KANV | Junction City, Olsburg
89.9 FM | K210CR | Atchison
90.3 FM | KANQ | Chanute

See the Coverage Map for more details

FCC On-line Public Inspection Files Sites:
KANU, KANH, KANV, KANQ

Questions about KPR's Public Inspection Files?
Contact General Manager Feloniz Lovato-Winston at fwinston@ku.edu
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Headlines for Thursday, August 6, 2020

kpr-news-summary_new.jpg
kpr-news-summary_new.jpg

Kansas House Speaker Had Coronavirus; Governor to Get Tested

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. tested positive for coronavirus last month. A spokesman for Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday that she will get tested because she was in a meeting later with Ryckman and other legislative leaders. Ryckman said he began self-isolating at home after he was notified July 10 that he’d had contact with someone who might have the virus. He said he tested positive on July 13 and began experiencing symptoms that led him to be hospitalized later for a week. Ryckman said he no longer was contagious when he attended a Statehouse meeting with other legislative leaders and Kelly on July 29.

====================

Urban Outfitters Opening Distribution Center in Wyandotte County

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KPR/AP) - Officials with Urban Outfitters say the company will build a new distribution center in Wyandotte County.  The announcement was made by company officials Wednesday, during a video-conference call that also featured Kansas City, Kansas Mayor Dave Alvey, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran and Governor Laura Kelly.  Company officials said they planned to build a new, 880,000-square-foot facility.  The URBN center in KCK will be neighbors with Kansas Speedway.  WIBW TV reports that the move is expected to bring more than 2,000 jobs and about $350 million in revenue to the state.  David Ziel, chief development officer of Urban Outfitters, says Kansas City is their new home and it looks forward to being part of the community.  Ziel said the new center will allow the company to reach digital customers faster and more efficiently.  He also said the company chose Kansas City because of its diversity and because of the work ethic of Kansans.  Governor Laura Kelly called the development a “transformational project.”

====================

Kansas Prison Operator, Phone Provider to Pay $3.7 Million

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The operator of a privately run federal prison in Kansas and its phone provider have agreed to pay $3.7 million to settle a lawsuit filed by attorneys who alleged calls with their clients at the Leavenworth facility were illegally recorded. The Kansas City Star reports that CoreCivic, the operator of the Leavenworth Detention Center, and its phone provider Securus Technologies agreed to pay the money into a fund that will be distributed among attorneys who had in-person or phone communications intercepted. A federal judge in Missouri approved the agreement Wednesday. The settlement comes a year after the companies agreed to pay $1.6 million to detainees who had made similar claims.

====================  

Kansas Man, Wife Charged 2 Days After He Resigned as Mayor

GODDARD, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas man and his wife are charged with counterfeiting two days after he abruptly resigned as mayor of Goddard. Jamey Blubaugh and his wife, Elizabeth, were charged Wednesday with one count of counterfeiting, which is a misdemeanor. The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office said the couple is accused of using counterfeit tickets to attend last year's Zoobilee at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The tickets were $165 each. Blubaugh resigned as mayor on Monday, citing conflicts with the city administrator. The city of Goddard said in a statement that the charges have no connection to any of Blubaugh's officials duties as mayor.

====================

University of Kansas to Require COVID-19 Tests on Campus

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas will require students, staff and faculty who are returning to campus in Lawrence and Overland Park to take a free COVID-19 test. Chancellor Douglas Girod said the drive-up tests will be administered at various locations before the fall semester begins Aug. 24, with results available within 24 to 48 hours. The tests will begin later this week when students begin moving in on a staggered schedule to campus housing. Meanwhile, Wabaunsee County health officials are encouraging anyone who attended the county fair in Alma on July 24-27 to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms because one person who attended the fair has tested positive.

====================

Kansas Reports 368 Deaths Caused by COVID-19; Nearly 30,000 Have Tested Positive    

TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Since the coronavirus pandemic began, nearly 30,000 Kansans have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.  Kansas health officials released the latest numbers Wednesday, revealing 29,717 people have now tested positive and 368 people have died.  A new round of data will be released online Friday.

(–Related–)

Officials: Nearly a Quarter of Kansas Coronavirus Cases from Clusters

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say nearly a quarter of the state's almost 30,000 coronavirus cases have been linked to cluster sites. That news comes as nearly a dozen school officials in one small southeast Kansas community find themselves infected or in quarantine after a recent leadership retreat in Branson. The Kansas City Star reports that the state Department of Health and Environment identified 369 outbreaks which have infected 7,851 people and led to 247 of the state's 368 COVID-19 deaths. The state’s clusters include 136 at private businesses, 99 at long-term care facilities and 58 from gatherings. In Chanute, Kansas, 11 school administrators who attended the Branson retreat are in quarantine after six of them tested positive for the virus. 

Kansas Counties with Mask Mandate Show Steep COVID-19 Drop

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — The top health official in Kansas says counties that have mask mandates in place have seen a rapid drop in cases, while those that only recommend their use have seen no decrease in cases. Dr. Lee Norman said Wednesday that 15 counties stayed with Gov. Laura Kelly's mask mandate last month while 90 counties abandoned it. He says that overall, the statewide numbers of new cases appear to be favorable, but that the reduction in new cases is entirely in the counties requiring masks.

==================== 

As Missouri Lawmakers Resume Work, 4 People Returning to Jeff City Test Positive for Virus

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Four people have tested positive for COVID-19 following open testing at the Missouri Capitol. On Wednesday, the state health department said 228 lawmakers, staffers and other Capitol workers were tested in total. The health department offered free testing in advance of lawmakers returning to work for an ongoing special session on crime. Statewide, the health department reported another 1,241 confirmed positive cases Wednesday. Of those tested statewide in the past week, close to 10% were positive for COVID-19. A new federal report lists Missouri as among 21 states in the “red zone” for the outbreak.

==================== 

Kansas Congressman Roger Marshall's Primary Win in Kansas Buoys GOP Senate Hopes

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Republicans are brimming with new-found confidence about keeping an open U.S. Senate seat in Kansas safely in GOP hands.  The establishment-backed 1st District Republican Congressman from Great Bend, Dr. Roger Marshall, won his party's nomination.  Marshall has been viewed by most GOP leaders as well-positioned to take on an unusually formidable Democratic opponent and fellow physcian, Barbara Bollier.  Marshall's first task was refilling his campaign treasury and rebuilding Republican party unity after an often-bitter primary campaign. Marshall comfortably defeated the conservative but often polarizing Kris Kobach in the primary.   Marshall says he's confident he can unite Republicans quickly against Bollier, a former Republican who switched to the Democratic party.  But Bollier is beginning the contest with $4.5 million in cash, while Marshall has about $600,000 left after his competitive primary election ended.   

====================  

Obama's Medicaid Expansion Keeps Gaining Ground Under Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is still trying to overturn “Obamacare,” but his predecessor’s health care law keeps gaining ground in places where it was once unwelcome. Missouri voters this week approved Medicaid expansion by a 53% to 47% margin, making the conservative state the seventh to do so under Trump. The president readily carried Missouri in 2016, but the Medicaid vote came as more people have been losing health insurance in a shaky coronavirus economy. That leaves only a dozen states, including Kansas, opposed to using the federal-state health program for covering more low-income adults, mainly working people whose jobs don’t provide health care.

====================

Kansas Audio-Reader Network Holds Another Facebook Live Fundraiser to Help

LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - The Kansas Audio-Reader Network, the radio reading service for the blind, is holding its second Facebook LIVE sale of audio goods at 6 pm today (THUR).  The sale of vintage and gently-used audio equipment provides funding for the statewide organization's many information services for the vision-impaired.  Based at the University of Kansas, Audio-Reader is the nation's second oldest radio reading service.  With more than 450 volunteers, Audio-Reader provides reading services for the blind and vision-impaired in Kansas and surrounding states.  The service is accessible on special radios, over the telephone and online.  Audio-Reader also provides live audio description services at theater performances.  But the non-profit information service has fallen on hard times.  The free service is based at and provided by KU, but the university is withdrawing all its financial support, making fundraising events like tonight's (THUR) Facebook LIVE sale increasingly more important. 

Audio-Reader typically collects donated audio equipment, records, CDs and musical instruments throughout the year.  Qualified volunteer technicians meticulously restore and refurbish the gently used receivers, speakers, amplifiers, turntables and radios.  Then, the items are sold to the public at the Douglas County fairgrounds each September.  But the pandemic has forced Audio-Reader to change plans this year and cancel its regular in-person sale.  Instead, Audio-Reader is holding virtual sales of audio equipment using Facebook LIVE as the venue. 

Audio-Reader's first Facebook Live event July 16 raised approximately $2,000.  Previous in-person and online sale events have featured products from some of the top names in audio equipment, including Pioneer, Marantz, Martin Logan, McIntosh, Fisher, Harman Kardon, Samsung, Sansui, Sanyo, Sony, Sherwood, Kenwood, JVC, Denon, Onkyo, Akai, Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Toshiba, Yamaha,  Rotel, Panasonic - just to name 22 of them. ( Read more.)

  

====================

Police Say 1 Shot to Death in Barrage of Gunfire in Topeka

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Topeka say a barrage of gunfire in the west end of the city led to the death of one person there. Police say the shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, when officers were called to Southwest Gage Boulevard near a shopping district and not far from the Topeka Zoo. Arriving officers found one person suffering gunshot wounds who was pronounced dead at the scene. The person's name and other details of the shooting have not yet been released. Police said the size of the crime scene led it to issue a plea for residents to avoid the area while detectives conducted a forensics investigation.

====================

Foul Play Not Suspected After 6-Year-Old Lawrence Boy Shot

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Police say a 6-year-old boy was seriously injured when he was shot at a Lawrence home. Police found the boy suffering from a gunshot wound Wednesday night. The boy was in critical but stable condition at a Lawrence-area hospital Thursday. Police spokesman Patrick Compton said the shooting remains under investigation but police do not currently believe foul play was involved.

====================

Overland Park Councilman Charged with Misdemeanor Battery

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — An Overland Park City Council member who is charged with misdemeanor domestic battery has been removed from the city's public safety committee, which oversees police procedures. Scott Hamblin was charged after police were called to his home on July 21. No one was injured. Six fellow council members on Monday called for Hamblin to resign but he says he will not do so. Mayor Carl Gerlach said Thursday that he removed Hamblin from the committee because it would be a conflict of interest to serve while being investigated by police. Hamblin's wife, Curstin, issued a statement defending her husband and accusing the council of trying to score political points from a personal matter.

====================  

American Royal Cancels this Year's World Series of Barbecue

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The American Royal's World Series of Barbecue will not be held this year. The American Royal Association has announced it will not hold what it calls the world's largest barbecue competition because of the coronavirus pandemic. American Royal President and CEO Glen Alan Phillips said the organization could not find a way to make this year's event safe for competitors and visitors. The event was scheduled for September 17-20 at the Kansas Speedway. It is the first time the organization has ever canceled the barbecue. The American Royal also canceled this year's 2020 Pro Rodeo but will have most equine shows and the livestock show.

====================

Kansas Public Radio Cancels Big Band Christmas for 2020

LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) – Kansas Public Radio has canceled its popular, end-of-year holiday concert.  The University of Kansas-owned radio station was set to hold its 12th annual Big Band Christmas on December 12 at Liberty Hall, but due to concerns surrounding COVID-19, KPR decided to cancel this year’s event(link is external).  Big Band Christmas traditionally draws more than 500 people to enjoy a night of live jazz music, drinks and dancing.  KPR plans to bring Big Band Christmas back in December 2021.  Follow KPR on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see announcements on various virtual events KPR will be holding for the foreseeable future.  Broadcasting since 1952, KPR has earned the Station of the Year award from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters a record 18 times, more than any other radio or TV station in the state.  

====================  

KPR's daily headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. KPR's weekend summary is usually published by 1 pm Saturdays and Sundays.