New Fiscal Forecast for Kansas Fuels GOP's Tax-Cut Dreams
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials have issued a new, more optimistic fiscal forecast for state government and projected healthy cash reserves through June 2022. The new forecast, released today (TUE), gave Republican lawmakers new ammunition in pushing for state income tax cuts over Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's objections. The fiscal forecasters revised the state's projections for tax collections during the current 2021 budget year, which ends June 30, upward by nearly 4%, or $304 million. The forecasters also made a small change in the projections for tax collections for the 2022 budget year, increasing the total by $38 million. Legislative researchers projected that Kansas will have $1.15 billion in cash reserves on June 30.
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Variants Increase in Kansas as Parents Challenge Mask Rules
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The number of coronavirus variants in the state has risen sharply, even as parents in some schools push to drop masking requirements and vaccine appointments go unfilled. In the past week, Kansas had a 32% increase in the total number of confirmed variant coronavirus cases as all five variants of concern have now been identified in the state. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 175 total variant cases on Monday, up from 133 one week ago. Most of the increase was due to 35 new cases of the variant strain first identified in the United Kingdom.
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Kansas COVID-19 Case Total Passes 306,000, Including 4,955 Deaths, Since Pandemic Began
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/AP) - The Kansas Department of Health and Environment(KDHE) reports that there have been 306,290 cases of COVID-19 in the state, including 4,955 deaths, since the start of the pandemic. That's an increase of 429 cases and two deaths since Friday. Another update of case statistics is expected Wednesday.
- KPR's Coronavirus Information and Resources Guide
- Kansas COVID-19 Vaccination Information
- Kansas COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard
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A Jab on the Job: Companies, Unions Offer COVID-19 Vaccines
UNDATED (AP) — A growing number of companies and labor unions are securing coronavirus vaccines for their workers. Amazon and some other large companies have hosted on-site inoculations, while smaller operations have helped book appointments for their workers. For the employers, the vaccines are a critical step toward restoring normalcy at a time when customer demand for their services is expected to skyrocket. For some workers, on-site injections can provide access they may not have had in their own communities amid persistent racial and socioeconomic gaps in vaccine distribution. Vaccination drives also allow companies to keep track of how many workers are vaccinated, although few employers are requiring the shots at this point.
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Police: 1 Dead, 2 Hurt in Kansas City Shooting; No Arrests
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police in Kansas City say one person is dead and two others are hospitalized following a shooting early Monday. The shooting happened just before 1 am Monday, when officers were called to 67th and Paseo for a shooting. Officers on the way to the scene were notified that a vehicle carrying three shooting victims had arrived at a Kansas City hospital, and officers were sent to the hospital, as well. Police say one of the victims died at the hospital and another has life-threatening injuries. The third victim is expected to recover. No arrests have been reported.
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Police: Teenager Shot at Kansas City Hotel Dies from Injuries
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police say a teen shot over the weekend at a hotel near a Kansas City theme park has died from his injuries. Police say the shooting happened around 7 p.m. Saturday inside Hometowne Studios, which sits west of Interstate 435 across from Worlds of Fun. Police say the teen, later identified as 14-year-old Deontae Thomas, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where he underwent surgery. Police say he died of his injuries on Sunday. Police say homicide detectives have a person of interest in the case but are still looking for more information on the shooting from the public. Police have not released other details of the shooting.
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Southeast Kansas Man Convicted of Second-Degree Murder
GIRARD, Kan. (KPR) – An Arma man has been convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his wife in 2019 and convicted of aggravated battery against a second woman. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says 34-year-old Jeremy Delmarco, of Arma, entered no contest pleas in Crawford County District Court for the February 4, 2019, death of his 37-year-old wife, Brandy Delmarco, and for the aggravated battery in the stabbing of another woman. Both crimes took place in Arma. Sentencing has been set for June 30. Today's (TUE) hearing took place through a video conference. The case was investigated by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Jessica Domme of Schmidt’s office.
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St. Joseph Officer Charged with Misdemeanor Assault During Arrest
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A St. Joseph police officer is charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree assault after he allegedly slapped a man who was handcuffed during an arrest. On Monday, Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Holliday announced the charge against Sgt. James Langston, who is suspended without pay. Holliday said Langston is accused of striking Navada McEvoy with an open hand several times while McEvoy was in handcuffs and not resisting officers on April 6. No one was injured. Holliday noted that other officers on the scene reported the incident and his office was quickly notified. Langston has been with the department for more than 20 years.
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Ex-Kansas Governor Launches Bid; GOP Rivals Test Key Themes
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer has formally launched his campaign to reclaim the office in 2022. On Monday, Colyer portrayed himself as the true conservative in the Republican primary as his main GOP rival questioned his electability. Colyer and Attorney General Derek Schmidt highlighted key campaign themes with the August 2022 primary still more than 15 months away. Colyer narrowly lost the GOP primary in 2018 as governor to polarizing conservative and then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach before Kobach lost to Democrat Laura Kelly. Colyer's launch in Topeka featured Kansas GOP Senator Roger Marshall, who endorsed Colyer. The ex-governor endorsed Marshall last year.
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Kansas City Mayor Announces Marriage, Baby with KCK Official
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, has revealed his marriage earlier this month to his longtime girlfriend and Kansas City, Kansas, government official and announced the birth of their child over the weekend. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says he and Katherine Carttar married on April 11. Carttar is the economic development director for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas. Lucas said in a Facebook post on Monday that Carttar gave birth to their son, Bennett, over the weekend at a Kansas City, Kansas, hospital, where the baby has been in the neonatal intensive care unit.
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Police: Boy Shot and Critically Hurt in North Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A child was shot and critically hurt Saturday evening in north Kansas City. Police said officers were called to a hotel near Worlds of Fun shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday. At the Hometowne Studios hotel, they found a boy with a gunshot wound. The boy was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery. Police said he remained in critical condition Sunday morning. Police did not release any details of the shooting, and no arrests were reported immediately Sunday.
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Report: Missouri Lawmaker Should be Ousted for Alleged Abuse
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri House committee report says a new state lawmaker accused of physically and sexually abusing his children years ago should be ousted. The Missouri House Ethics Committee on Monday released its report on Republican Rep. Rick Roeber. His now-adult children testified to House investigators earlier this year that he sexually abused two of them at the ages of 5 and 9. The committee found records that show his children reported the abuse years ago but prosecutors didn’t file charges. The committee says claims against Roeber are credible. Roeber tried to resign last week. But the House refused to accept his resignation in order to complete the investigation.
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Canadian National Railway Bids $33.7 Billion for Kansas City Southern
UNDATED (AP) — A bidding war is breaking out for Kansas City Southern, with Canadian National Railway making a $33.7 billion cash-and-stock offer for the railway. The bid trumps a $25 billion cash-and-stock proposal made by Canadian Pacific last month. Shares of Kansas City Southern jumped more than 14% in today's (TUE) premarket trading. CN’s stock fell 7.7%. CN said its offer is worth $325 per Kansas City Southern share. Kansas City Southern shareholders would receive $200 in cash and 1.059 shares of CN common stock for each share.
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Arkansas Man Admits Removing Trees from National Forest
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A 46-year-old Arkansas man has admitted that he illegally removed or damaged more than two dozen trees from a national forest in Missouri. Jamie Edmondson pleaded guilty Monday to depredation of government property. Edmondson admitted that he did not have permission when he cut and removed 27 white oak and walnut trees from the forest in Barry County, Missouri, between June 1, 2019, and January 31, 2020. Edmondson sold the timber to various sawmills in the area. He faces a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole.
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1 Person Injured in Central Kansas House Fire that Spread from Camper
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Firefighters in south-central Kansas say one person was taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation early Monday after a fire that started in camper parked in a driveway spread to the home. Television station KSNW says the fire was reported around 3 am Monday in Hutchinson. Firefighters arrived to find a camper engulfed in flames in the home's driveway, and the fire had spread to the exterior of the home and into the home's attic. Officials say two people were home at the time of the fire, with one suffering from smoke inhalation. The fire was quickly brought under control.
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Invasive "Jumping Worms" Spreading Through Several U.S. States, Spotted in Kansas
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KTVI) — An invasive species of worm is wriggling its way into the Midwest. “Jumping worms” (Amynthas spp) thrash wildly when handled, are 4 to 8 inches long, move quickly like a snake and can shed their tails when threatened. Television station KSNT in Topeka reports that the jumping worms originally come from Asia and were officially found in the Midwest by the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2013. Researchers have been tracking their movements since then. They may have been brought to the United States as fish bait. The worms can be found in the top few inches of soil, leaves, or mulch, and they are displacing earthworms, centipedes and other animals. They also damage plant roots, deplete nutrients, and alter the water-holding capacity of the soil. Plants become more susceptible to pests, drought and disease. The worms are a danger to agriculture, gardens and forests.
The jumping worms were more common on the East and West Coasts of the United States. Now the worms have been spotted in Midwestern states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana, Indiana, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The University of Illinois says the worms can’t survive past frigid winters of the upper Midwest. But, they have egg casings that will persist through the cold weather. The Missouri Department of Conservation is asking anyone who finds jumping worms to kill them.
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Second Person Charged in Case of Body Found in Duffel Bag North of Kansas City
FAUCETT, Mo. (AP) — A second person has been charged in the killing of an Independence, Missouri, woman whose body was found in a duffle bag last year in rural Buchanan County. Marcus Brooks, who was arrested in February, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Ariel Starcher. Prosecutors have also charged 22-year-old Taylor Stoughton with second-degree murder in the case. A Missouri Transportation Department worker found the bag with Starcher’s body inside it on February 18, 2020, alongside a road about 45 miles north of Kansas City. Court documents say Stoughton told investigators that she and Brooks strangled Starcher on February 5, 2020, at a Kansas City hotel.
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New Kansas Law Makes It a Crime to Trespass at Pipelines
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A bill signed into law by Democratic Kansas Governor Laura Kelly will make it a misdemeanor to trespass near oil and gas pipelines. The legislation also makes it a misdemeanor to trespass near oil and gas, rubber manufacturing and wastewater treatment facilities and a felony to trespass with the intent to obstruct railroad tracks. Proponents say damaging those facilities could harm Kansans. Some House Democrats, including two Native American legislators, said the bill targets Native American protestors like those who opposed the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
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Seaman School District Hires Advisors to Help with Name Change
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas school district that is named for a Ku Klux Klan leader is paying an advisory group to help lead discussions on how to change the name. The Seaman School District's Board of Education voted Monday to pay $30,000 to the Kansas Leadership Center for advice on the issue. The Seaman district is named for Fred Seaman, an "exalted cyclops," or chief officer, in the Topeka KKK in the 1920s. Students, teachers and some community leaders want the board to change the name. The district has named its own advisory board, but the school board will make the final decision.
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Northeast Kansas School District Ditches Native American Mascots
ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas district has decided to ditch its "Redmen" and "Braves" mascots after public opinion shifted. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Atchison school board approved the change unanimously this past week. It was a reversal from 2018 when the board voted to keep the "Redmen" mascot for the district's high school and the "Braves" mascot for the middle school. Board member Carrie Sowers said she changed her vote because the community "spoke loud and clear." Sowers said the board heard considerable support in 2018 for keeping Native American-themed mascots. But this time, all nine people who addressed the matter at a public input session asked the board to do away with the mascots.
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Two Women Get Probation for Actions in Wichita Protests
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two Wichita women who helped organize protests in the city last summer calling for changes in police conduct have been found guilty of misdemeanor charges connected to the demonstrations. Gabrielle Griffie and Marissa Gonzalez both received probation sentences after their convictions for unlawful assembly in Wichita Municipal Court last week. Both women were acquitted of disorderly conduct in the protests last July that at times blocked traffic while protesters marched down streets. Their trials focused on whether the protesters could occupy the roads to deliver their message, and Judge Bryce Abbott ultimately decided that protesters had no right to impede traffic without a permit for their demonstration.
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Lawrence Area Program Rescues Unwanted Produce to Feed Those in Need
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Farmers in the Lawrence area are being recruited to participate in a program that gathers unsellable produce and donates it to people in need. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability Office is working on the effort with two other nonprofits. The county received a federal grant to support the effort. Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability Food Waste Reduction Specialist Jamie Hofling said that volunteers were recently able to rescue 40 pounds of organic spinach that had been invaded by small insects called aphids, which do not render the plants inedible but do need to be washed off.
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Charlie Huggins, Father of WVU Coach Bob Huggins, Dies at 87
(UNDATED) (AP) - The father of West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has died. Charlie Huggins, who won three Ohio high school basketball championships as a coach, was 87. James Gardner of Baxter-Gardner Funeral Home in Sherrodsville, Ohio, says Charlie Huggins died Tuesday and that no official cause of death has been released. Charlie Huggins won Ohio small-school titles in 1967, 1972 and 1976. He compiled a 398-74 career record. That includes a perfect 26-0 mark during Bob Huggins' senior season at Indian Valley South High School in 1972. Charlie Huggins was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
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ACLU: Merriam Panhandling Ordinance Unconstitutional
MERRIAM, Kan. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union and another advocacy group are warning a Kansas City suburb that its panhandling ordinance is unconstitutional. The Kansas City Star reports that no lawsuit has been filed over the two-month-old Merriam ordinance that bans pedestrians from standing or sitting on medians at nine high-traffic intersections, other than to legally cross the street. But the ACLU and National Homelessness Law Center wrote that it "almost certainly violates the constitutional right to free speech protected by the First Amendment" and asked to meet with the city in an effort to "work toward an effective solution." The ACLU has sued over panhandling ordinances in other cities.
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Wichita City Leaders May Limit Gifts to City Council
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita city leaders are considering overhauling their ethics code and for the first time setting a limit on gifts to city council members. The proposed rules drafted over the past year would ban gifts worth more than $150 a year and establish an anonymous hotline for reporting ethics violations. The City Council will decide later this spring whether to adopt the new rules. Mayor Brandon Whipple has pushed for the reforms to restore public confidence after several high-profile ethical breaches in city government led to several local officials leaving office in recent years and raised questions about the city's bidding process.
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