Kansas Can Enforce COVID-Inspired Limits on Officials' Power
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — People who oppose mask requirements or restrictions on public gatherings imposed by Kansas counties can challenge them in court and obtain a ruling within 10 days. That's the result of a decision Tuesday by the state Supreme Court. The court said the state for now can enforce a COVID-19-inspired law enacted in March by the Republican-controlled Legislature to restrict the power of Democratic Governor Laura Kelly and county officials in emergencies. A judge in Johnson County declared last month that the law violated the state constitution, but GOP state Attorney General Derek Schmidt appealed. The Supreme Court is blocking the county judge's order while it considers the appeal.
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UPDATE: Wichita Schools to Require Face Masks Next Week
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) _ Beginning next week, Wichita public school students and employees will be required to wear face masks indoors. Wichita school board members voted unanimously Monday night to mandate masks. That was a change from earlier this month, when the board voted to strongly recommend masks. The board said the decision was based on recent guidance from the CDC and from state and local public health experts. The measure, which takes effect on Monday, August 30, will apply to all school employees and all children ages 3 and older. Since school started, 245 students and employees in Wichita schools have tested positive for COVID-19. Almost 1,700 students and employees have been quarantined. With more than 50,000 students, the Wichita school district is the largest district in Kansas.
(Additional reporting...)
Wichita School Board Approves Masks Starting Next Week
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - The Wichita School Board approved unanimously approved wearing masks indoors at its meeting Monday night. KWCH TV reports that the measure takes effect Monday, August 30, and will apply to all children ages 3 and older. The board said its decision was on recent guidance from state and local public health experts combined with CDC recommendations. While it was not approved by Sedgwick County Commissioners on Friday, the county’s local health officer recommended a county-wide mask mandate to help slow the spread of COVID-19, specifically the delta variant. School nurses have also reported being overwhelmed with contact tracing and daily testing of high-risk contacts, which mainly includes those not wearing masks.
(Earlier reporting...)
Debates over Requiring Masks, Vaccinations Heat Up in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Debates about mask mandates and vaccine requirements are intensifying in Kansas as the delta variant sends cases soaring. In the Topeka area, board members for the Auburn-Washburn district voted 6-0 Sunday to approve a mask mandate, effective immediately, for all students, staff and visitors inside district facilities. Meanwhile, Sedgwick County Commissioners on Friday voted down a mandate along party lines after a heated debate in which an anti-mask activist said that he and other opponents would show up outside commissioners’ homes with megaphones if they passed the measure. More companies, universities and local governments are expected to require vaccinations now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
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Kansas Governor Urges School Districts to Require Masks
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is calling for school districts to require masks as hospitals buckle under the strain of increasingly young COVID-19 patients. Kelly has called the situation an "emergency" and urged people to get vaccinated. She said that more COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospitals in the state last Wednesday than any other single day since the pandemic began. And she said intensive care units are at 100% capacity at six of the state's largest hospitals amid a surge fueled by the delta variant and low vaccination rates. Schools have been hit hard, with 154 clusters and 1,889 cases.
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Southwest Missouri Health System Requires Employee Vaccines
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — One of Missouri’s biggest hospital systems says it will require its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The announcement Monday from CoxHealth came just hours after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its full approval to Pfizer’s version of the drug. CoxHealth, which is based in Springfield but has several other facilities in southwestern Missouri, says workers have until October 15 to get at least their first vaccine dose or risk losing their jobs. CEO Steve Edwards says “careful consideration” will be given to requests for exemptions for religious or health reasons, and that anyone granted exemptions will be required to undergo coronavirus testing. CoxHealth officials say about 70% of the system’s employees are already vaccinated.
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Heat Wave Brings Scorching Temperatures to a Dozen States
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Parts of eastern and central Kansas remain under a Heat Advisory. And Kansas isn't the only place heating up. Cooling centers have opened in Mississippi's capital city as a heat wave scorches temperatures in several states in the South and Midwest. The National Weather Service says heat advisories on Monday covered parts of 10 states, including Kansas, Missouri and Illinois in the Midwest. In the South, parts of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi were under heat advisories, as were slivers of Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky. Forecasters said that in parts of Mississippi, the heat index could reach 115 degrees. The heat index is generally what the temperature will feel like to people.
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Topeka Police Find Kansas Baby Safe After Car He Was Riding in Was Stolen
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Topeka say a 2-month-old infant who was in the back of a car when it was stolen has been found safe. Police say the incident happened late Monday morning, when the vehicle was reported stolen near 6th and Clay streets. Police say the vehicle was found a short time later with the baby still inside and unharmed. A few hours later, police arrested a 47-year-old Topeka man on suspicion of robbery, vehicle burglary, kidnapping and child endangerment.
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Kansas State Will Limit Beer Sales During Football Games
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) _ Kansas State University football fans will have to search a little harder for beer and alcohol during football games this season. A year after allowing beer and wine sales throughout Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the university says it will return to a previous practice of limiting alcohol sales to specific areas. Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor said 60% of fans who answered a survey said they preferred limited beer sales and combined exit/re-entry over beer sales at every concession stand and no re-entry. The university said it will open a third beer garden at the stadium this season.
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Man Who Impersonated Wichita Police Officer Gets Probation
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man who impersonated a police officer will serve a year of probation. Daniel J. Corrieri was charged with 10 misdemeanor counts after police received several reports of him impersonating an officer. Corrieri pleaded guilty earlier this summer to driving under the influence and false impersonation. A court affidavit says in one incident, Corrieri pulled behind two teenagers working on a car and activated flashing lights on his car. He told the teenagers to get out of the street, while holding a gun and wearing body armor. Corrieri was arrested after a person who was suspicious followed him. He was jailed after failing a sobriety test.
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Police: Crash in Suburban Kansas City Kills 6-Year-Old Girl
EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) — Police say a crash in suburban Kansas City has killed a 6-year-old girl and seriously injured several others, including a 4-year-old boy. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the crash happened Friday night in Excelsior Springs, when a car went off the right side of the road, hit a parked pickup truck and then traveled into a field before coming to rest in a brush pile. The patrol said a 6-year-old girl inside the car died at the scene. The 24-year-old driver, two 18-year-old passengers and a 4-year-old boy in the car were taken to hospitals with serious injuries.
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Police Officer Shoots and Kills Man Who Pointed Gun in Southeast Kansas Town
CHANUTE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities said a police officer shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at the officer in a small southeast Kansas town. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said the shooting happened Friday night in Chanute. KBI spokeswoman Melissa Underwood said the man who was shot, 28-year-old Brandon Lee Schlichting of Chanute, died Sunday at a hospital in Kansas City, Kansas. Underwood said Schlichting pulled a gun from a holster and pointed it at the officer after the officer tried to make contact with him. The officer shot Schlichting in the head.
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Kansas Man Wounded in Police Shooting Released from Hospital
AUGUSTA, Kan. (AP) — A man wounded in a police shooting near Wichita has been booked into jail on probation violations. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says 49-year-old Barrye Lightner, of Augusta, was taken Sunday night from Wesley Medical Center to the Sedgwick County jail. He was shot Friday night after Augusta police received a strange 911 call in which no one said anything but didn’t hang up. Police tracked the call to a convenience store, where the caller said there was a man inside with felony warrants for his arrest. The officer entered the store and attempted to make contact with Lightner, who pulled out a knife. The KBI said Lightner ignored the officer’s commands and then stepped toward the officers. That’s when the officer fired, striking Lightner in his hands.
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Police: Roommate in Western Kansas Accidentally Shot, Killed
HAYS, Kan. (AP) — Police in western Kansas say a man is dead after he was accidentally shot over the weekend by a roommate. Police say the shooting happened late Friday night in Hays, when first responders were called to home for a shooting. Arriving Hays police officers and Ellis County Sheriff's deputies found a man with a gunshot wound to his head. The man was rushed to a Hays hospital, where he later died. Investigators say one of the man's roommates was trying to repair a gun when it unexpectedly fired, shooting the victim in the head. Investigators have ruled the shooting accidental. The victim's name was not immediately released.
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Teenager Drowns After Driving into Butler County Pond
TOWANDA, Kan. (AP) — Butler County authorities say a teenager drowned over the weekend after he drove his pickup truck into a pond. The Butler County sheriff's office says the truck went into a pond north of Towanda late Friday or early Saturday. Another juvenile in the car was able to escape. The boy's body was recovered on Sunday. No names or other information has been released.
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Authorities: Missouri Man Drowns at Lake of the Ozarks
OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a man from western Missouri has drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks. Springfield television station KYTV reports that 32-year-old Kegri Ilu, of Warrensburg, was walking along a boat dock in Darby Hollow Cove when he slipped and fell Sunday night into the water and did not resurface. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a dive team recovered Ilu's body just before 3 am Monday.
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USDA: Cropland Values Rise in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) _ The value of an acre of cropland in Kansas has increased 14 % this year compared to 2020. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an acre of farmland is now selling for an average of $2,400. Rising land values can be good for farmers who own land, but make it more expensive to expand operations or rent land for farming. The USDA says a majority of farmers lease at least some of the land they farm. Other agricultural costs are also rising. The price of fertilizer next year is expected to double due to COVID-related supply shortages and increased demand. The Kansas Farm Bureau says rising land prices coupled with increased inflation could make 2022 a difficult year for farmers.
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Most of Kansas' Top 10 Cities Grew in Population over Past Decade
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Eight of the 10 largest cities in Kansas grew in population over the past decade and now are home to nearly half of the state's residents. New census figures show that 1.34 million of the state's 2.9 million residents live in the 10 largest cities, or nearly 46%. That's up about 87,000 people or 7% from the 2010 population of 1.25 million. The two large cities that didn't grow were Topeka and Salina. Topeka lost 0.7% of its residents, down to about 126,600, and Salina's dropped 1.7% to about 46,900. The state's largest city of Wichita grew 4% to about 397,500 residents.
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Legislative Districts Overpopulated in 4 Kansas Urban Areas
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — New figures from the Kansas Legislature's research staff show that shifts in population left legislators in four urban areas with too many people in their districts and lawmakers from most rural areas with too few. The numbers released this week showed that 22 of 40 Senate districts and 78 of 125 House districts have too little population after the past 10 years. Districts in the Kansas City, Wichita, Lawrence and Manhattan areas have too many people. Current boundaries were drawn in 2012, and the Republican-controlled Legislature must redraw them next year so that districts are as equal in population as possible.
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Johnson County Considers Fines for Reckless Shooting
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Johnson County Commissioners are considering a measure that would impose up to a $1,000 fine for firing bullets onto or over property without permission. KCUR Radio reports that Sheriff Calvin Hayden told commissioners the measure is meant to enforce safety measures that have not always been used by target shooters in the unincorporated area of the county. Some 22 complaints were filed from August 2019 through early June of this year. Commissioners will vote on the proposal next week.
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Kansas: More People Seek Jobs as Unemployment Rises to 3.8%
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas unemployment rate rose slightly in July to 3.8%, and state labor officials said that the increase was tied to more people seeking work. The state Department of Labor reports that Kansas had about 5,900 more people working in private-sector, nonfarm jobs in July than in June. It was the second consecutive month that unemployment rose; it was 3.7% in June and 3.5% in May. The labor force grew by about 2,400 people in July from June, while an additional 1,700 were unable to find jobs. About 1.51 million people were in the labor force in July, and almost 58,000 were unemployed.
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Nine Women Now Serving as Governors in U.S., Tying a Record
UNDATED (AP) - New York Governor Kathy Hochul is beginning her term in office with plenty of challenges. But she also is starting with an historic opportunity as the first woman to hold one of the most prominent governorships in the U.S. When Hochul took over Tuesday for resigned Governor Andrew Cuomo, she became the ninth woman currently serving as governor. That ties the previous record, first set in 2004 and then matched in 2007 and 2019. Hochul already has said she will run for a full four-year term next year. Women also have a chance to make gains in 2022 in several states where governors are term-limited. In Kansas, Governor Laura Kelly is the third woman to hold the state's top executive job. The first woman elected governor in Kansas was Joan Finney, who served from 1991 to 1995.
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Oklahoma Man Charged in January 6th Assault on AP Photographer
PHOENIX (AP) — An Oklahoma man seen on video pushing an Associated Press photographer over a wall outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot has been arrested. Benjamen Scott Burlew of Miami, Oklahoma, is the second person to be charged with attacking photographer John Minchillo, who was documenting the mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters that day. Burlew is accused of yelling at, grabbing, dragging and ultimately pushing Minchillo over a low stone wall on the Capitol grounds. Burlew’s attorney didn’t respond to requests to comment Tuesday on the allegations against his client. Last month, Alan William Byerly of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, was arrested on charges of assaulting Minchillo and police officers during the riot.
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U.S. Boarding School Review Prompts Calls for Trauma Support
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Some members of Congress want protections put in place to address ongoing intergenerational trauma as more information comes to light about the troubled history of Indigenous boarding schools in the United States. A group of 21 Democrats sent a letter last week to the Indian Health Service. They're asking that culturally appropriate support services be put in place, such as a special hotline and mental and spiritual programs. The federal agency said Monday it's reviewing the request and discussing what steps to take next. Advocacy groups say additional trauma resources for Indigenous communities are more urgent than ever.
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These area headlines are curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Kaye McIntyre and Tom Parkinson. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays. This news summary is made possible by KPR listener-members. Become one today!