Study: Medicaid Expansion Would Cost $47.4 Million in First Year
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new study says expanding Medicaid in Kansas would have a net cost of $47.4 million in the first year. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the nonprofit Kansas Health Institute estimated in the study released Tuesday that an additional 130,000 low-income adults and children would sign up if the program was expanded. That accounts for adults who already are eligible but may not know it, as well as those who already have insurance but would switch if state assistance were available. The number is lower than previous estimates that 150,000 would sign up for the coverage. KHI policy executive and lead author Kari Bruffett says that's because economic improvements have left fewer people uninsured. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has made expansion a top priority, although Republican leaders are opposed.
====================
1 Suspect Pleads Guilty in Kansas Carnival Vendors' Deaths
GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — One of several people charged in the deaths of a couple who disappeared from a Kansas county fair has pleaded guilty. The Great Bend Tribune reports that 54-year-old Michael Fowler Jr., of Sarasota, Florida, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of theft. A capital murder charge was dropped. The bodies of Alfred "Sonny" Carpenter and Pauline Carpenter of Wichita were discovered in July in shallow graves near Van Buren, Arkansas. Prosecutors say the Carpenters were killed at the Barton County Fair, where they were vendors. The suspects worked for the carnival company at the fair. Investigators say one suspect posed as a carnival mafia boss and ordered the other suspects to kill the couple. Police have said the "carnival mafia" does not exist.
====================
KBI Investigating Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Kansas City, Kansas, police chief's use of a county-owned lake house. The Kansas City Star reports the investigation centers on whether Chief Terry Ziegler "double dipped" when he took paid time off work while also charging the county government for work he did on the lake house. The Unified Government allowed Ziegler to pay little rent on the house on Wyandotte Lake Park if he made repairs on the property. Officials put the lease in writing after a citizen inquired about it. Ziegler sent an email to police department employees on Monday confirming the investigation. He will continue working during the investigation. In December, Mayor David Alvey said he thought the arrangement with Zeigler was in the county's best interests.
====================
LGBTQ Activist Stephanie Mott Dies
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Well-known Kansas LGBTQ rights activist Stephanie Mott has died. Pastor Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Topeka says Mott was hospitalized Sunday after apparently suffering a heart attack. She died Monday at the age of 61. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Mott, a transgender woman, filed suit in 2016 seeking to change her Kansas birth certificate to identify her as female, but that case was dismissed in 2017. The New York City-based Lambda Legal Defense Education Fund then filed a lawsuit last October, which remains pending, challenging the refusal by Kansas government officials to correct gender identification on birth certificates for transgender individuals. Mott also was a mental health clinician who led the Kansas Democratic Party's LGBT caucus and managed the Topeka chapter of Equality Kansas.
====================
ACLU: Deal Reached in Students' Free Speech Case in Kansas
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A civil rights group says it has struck a settlement deal with the Shawnee Mission School District in a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the free speech and press rights of students. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas announced Tuesday in a news release that the school district will adopt new policies to ensure future students will not have their free speech rights violated at school. It says the parties have agreed not to release settlement details until after the court approves it. The legal dispute stems from a nationwide walkout last year protesting gun violence. The lawsuit accuses the school district of suppressing students' political speech. It alleged administrators ended student anti-gun violence rallies, confiscated the cameras of student journalists covering it, and punished some participating students.
====================
1 Killed, 3 Hurt in Early Morning Fire in Central Kansas
PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a woman was killed and three relatives were hurt in an early morning fire in central Kansas. Reno County Sheriff's Department says in a Facebook post that fire and law enforcement rushed to the double-wide mobile home around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday. A woman was able to get out of the home with her 1-year-old and 2-year-old children. Sheriff Randy Henderson says she went to a neighbor and called 911 to report that her 70-year-old grandmother, Judy Kay Alley, was still inside the home. Firefighters went into the home and found Alley dead. The 2-year-old was flown to a hospital, while the child's mother and younger sibling were transported by ambulance.
===================
Kansas Woman Wins Annual Trans-Atlantic Pancake Race
LIBERAL, Kan. (AP) — A pancake-flipping Kansas teacher has bested her trans-Atlantic competitors to win an annual Shrove Tuesday tradition. The High Plains Daily Leader reports that Maggie Lapinski ran the 415-yard leg of the race in Liberal, Kansas, with a time of 62.98 seconds. That was almost 7 seconds faster than Amy Butler, who ran a similar race in Olney, England, with a time of 70 seconds. Contestants must carry a pancake in a frying pan and flip it at the beginning and end of the race. The race began in Olney in the 15th century. In 1950, Liberal challenged Olney to an international competition. Lapinski, who coaches cross country, also won the Liberal leg of the race in 2017, but a winner couldn't be determined because of a technical glitch in Olney.
====================
Jury Acquits Sedgwick County Commissioner of Most Charges in Fraud Case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal jury has found Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O'Donnell not guilty on nearly all charges of taking campaign funds for his personal use. Jurors on Monday acquitted O'Donnell on 21 counts of wire fraud, but deadlocked on two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering related to his state and county campaigns. Prosecutors alleged he took $10,500 of campaign funds to put into his personal checking account or give to friends. O'Donnell testified the payments were legitimate expenses. The Wichita Republican was elected to the Kansas State Senate in 2012 for a term that ended in January 2017. He did not run for re-election and instead ran for and won a term on the Sedgwick County Commission that began in 2017 and is set to expire in 2020.
====================
Official: Fatal Deer Disease on the Rise in Western Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas wildlife official says the prevalence of chronic wasting disease in deer is on the rise in the western part of the state. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism recently announced that 37 of more than 360 deer have tested positive for the fatal disease since the beginning of the fiscal year. Chronic wasting disease causes brain lesions in deer, elk and moose. The agency's wildlife disease coordinator, Shane Hesting, tells the Topeka Capital-Journal that most of the CWD-infected deer were killed by hunters in southwest Kansas. He says there's also been an increase in prevalence of the disease in the northwest over the past several years. Hesting says the department hasn't detected the disease in eastern Kansas, but it doesn't mean CWD is absent from the area.
====================
Many Kansas Universities See Drop in International Students
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Several Kansas universities say a decline in the number of international students hurts cultural diversity on campus and school finances. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Kansas Higher Education Statistics show the number of international students enrolled in Kansas Board of Regents colleges has declined by more than 11 percent since 2015, or roughly 1,560 students. Many of the affected schools are already facing limited state funding and declining enrollments. Data from the nonprofit NAFSA: Association of International Educators show international students have a $260 million economic impact on Kansas and support 2,500 jobs. International students pay out-of-state tuition and often live on campus. Kansas State University Provost Charles Taber describes a decline of as many as 600 international students per year, accounting for millions of dollars in lost revenue.
====================
Boy Wounded in Apparent Accidental Shooting in Kansas Home
ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 3-year-old boy has been flown to a hospital with an abdominal wound after an apparent accidental shooting in a northeast Kansas home. The Atchison Globe reports that the authorities responded Tuesday after the boy's mother reported that her son picked up a loose gun, which went off as he was handling it. Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson said further details on how the boy came to find the gun and who it belongs to can't be discussed at this time pending an investigation. Wilson says the cause of the discharge appears to be accidental. The boy initially was taken to Atchison Hospital and flown from there to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.
====================
Kansas Priest Denies Allegations of Abuse
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas priest announced at Mass this weekend that a woman who has twice accused him of abusing her has raised the allegation again. The Rev. William Bruning told the congregation at Queen of the Holy Rosary Church that a woman in her early 30s says Bruning abused her when she was a minor at the Most Pure Heart of Mary School in Topeka. The Kansas City Star reports Bruning insisted the allegation was false. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas said in a statement Sunday that reviews begun after the woman made the accusations in 2015 and 2018 found they could not be substantiated. The woman told the archdiocese last month she was not satisfied with that conclusion, prompting the archdiocese to share the information with church members during the weekend.
====================
Charges Dropped Against Second Man in Topeka Woman's Killing
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a first-degree murder charge against a second suspect in the deadly shooting of a Topeka woman. WIBW reports that Monday's decision to drop the charge against 28-year-old Rahnel Erik Rayford comes less than a week after a murder charge was dropped against 31-year-old Justin Lee McCoy. The dismissals were done in such a way that the men could be charged again in the death last May of 37-year-old Patricia Sanders. McCoy has been freed, but Rayford remains jailed on an attempted first-degree murder charge. The defense also wants that charge dropped. The recent dismissals mark the second time charges have been dropped in the case. The men were released previously after a judge found there wasn't probable cause to hold them. A grand jury then indicted them.
====================
Kansas Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in Salina Girl's Death
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the youngest of five men convicted in the 2015 shooting death of a Salina teenager. The court ruled Friday that Saline County prosecutors did not coerce Andrew Woodring into pleading no contest plea in the slaying of 17-year-old Allie Saum. The court also rejected Woodring's contention that a district court judge handled the case improperly. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Woodring sought to withdraw his plea. He is serving a life term with no chance of parole for 25 years. The five people convicted in the case fired at a truck driven by a man they mistakenly thought was involved in an earlier disturbance. One of the shots hit Saum.
====================
Clarification: Man to Change Plea in Wichita "Swatting" Case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — In a story March 4, The Associated Press reported that that an Ohio man whose online video game dispute allegedly led to a deadly hoax call has told a court he plans to change his plea. The story should have made clear that he initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, wire fraud and other counts.
(original story follows)
Filing: Ohio Gamer in Deadly Hoax Case to Change Plea
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An Ohio man whose online video game dispute allegedly led to a deadly hoax call has told a federal court in Kansas that he plans to change his plea. A court notice posted on Monday sets an April 3 change-of-plea hearing for 19-year-old Casey Viner of North College Hill, Ohio. He is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, wire fraud and other counts. Prosecutors allege Viner became upset while playing the Call of Duty WWII video game and asked 26-year-old Tyler Barriss of Los Angeles to "swat" 20-year-old Shane Gaskill in Wichita. Police shot the Kansas man who lived at the old address. The case drew attention to the practice of making a false report to get emergency responders to descend on an address. Barriss will be sentenced March 29.
====================
Kansas City Steamboat Museum Might Move to Jefferson City
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The founder of the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City is supporting legislation that would move the attraction to Jefferson City. The current museum houses a collection from a steamboat Hawley helped excavate in 1987 from a field in Kansas. David Hawley testified before the Legislature last week that the current museum is too small. KCUR reports the issue comes as Hawley is planning the excavation of a new steamboat. Senator Mike Bernskoetter and Representative Dave Griffith, both Republicans from Jefferson City, are sponsoring the bill. They want to raise revenue for the museum by increasing the entrance fees that riverboat casinos licensees pay the state from $2 per person to $3 per person. The museum's lease in Kansas City expires in 2026.
====================
Man Charged with Setting Fire to Planned Parenthood Clinic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged a 42-year-old Columbia, Missouri, man with trying to burn down a Planned Parenthood clinic last month. Prosecutors announced Monday that Wesley Brian Kaster was arrested Saturday on a charge pertaining to the pre-dawn February 10 fire at the Planned Parenthood-Columbia Health Center, which was empty at the time. Authorities allege that Kaster broke the clinic's glass front door and threw in a "Molotov cocktail-type device," though surveillance video showed it didn't cause an explosion or fire. They say he returned about an hour later with something in his hand, and that video later showed smoke billowing through the door. Firefighters found the remains of the Molotov cocktail and two 5-gallon buckets near spilled gasoline inside the clinic. Public defender Troy Stabenow said he had just been assigned to the case and couldn't immediately comment.
====================
3 Get Prison in College Basketball Recruiting Scandal
NEW YORK (AP) — Three men received prison sentences Tuesday in the widespread college basketball recruiting scandal that has tainted two dozen schools. Former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager Christian Dawkins and amateur league director Merl Code were convicted in October of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for funneling illegal payments to families of recruits to the University of Louisville, the University of Kansas and North Carolina State University. Gatto got nine months in prison; Dawkins and Code got six months each. Prosecutors say coaches teamed up with Gatto and others to trade hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence star athletes' choice of schools, shoe sponsors, agents and even tailors. NCAA President Mark Emmert has said an independent enforcement body to adjudicate major infractions cases could be in place by August. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he sympathized with the argument that the defendants were being punished when others who did similar things were not being prosecuted. Nonetheless, he said, "These defendants all knew what they were doing was wrong." The judge added that he wanted to send "a great big warning light to the basketball world."
"I deeply regret my actions," Gatto said in a shaky voice.
Dawkins referenced "social dysfunction" in college basketball and said his actions were "clouded" by a "system that takes advantage of kids."
"I realize now more than ever none of this was worth it," Dawkins said.
Code said he also regretted his actions but added, "Some things really got to be changed about college basketball."
====================
