UPDATED: Dangerous Sex Offender Who Escaped from Kansas Mental Hospital Arrested in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Police have confirmed to a Salt Lake City TV station that an inmate who escaped from a Kansas mental institution has been arrested. KUTV reports that 42-year-old John Freeman Colt has been booked into the Sevier County Jail. No other information was released. Colt, described by authorities as a dangerous sex offender, escaped from Larned State Hospital in central Kansas on June 30th by obtaining a replica of a staff ID badge and dress clothes. Colt was sentenced in 2001 to five years in state prison for aggravated sexual battery, attempted rape, aggravated burglary and four counts of aggravated battery against law enforcement. Officials said Kansas courts later deemed him a Sexually Violent Predator at high risk to commit a future sex offense and too dangerous to be released. Colt was indefinitely civilly committed and sent to the Larned State Hospital’s Sexual Predator Treatment Program in 2007, where officials said he was living until his escape. Officials in Larned said the morning of his escape, Colt shaved off his long hair and beard and was able to convince a new staff worker that he was in fact a new doctor and needed help finding his way out. Posing as a doctor, Colt was able to make his way past five secured doors and ultimately outside the gates.
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Good and Bad News for Kansas on the Pandemic Front
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/AP) - Good and bad news on the pandemic front in Kansas. First the good news: new cases of COVID-19 are slowing. State health officials say there have been nearly 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 and 43 new, virus-related deaths since last Friday. That's an improvement in the sense that case numbers and deaths are falling. But Kansas has also passed another grim milestone. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports that more than 6,000 people across the state have now died of COVID-19. Governor Laura Kelly directed flags to be lowered to half-staff across the state in honor of those who died. Flags will remain at half staff through sundown Wednesday.
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Hospitals Brace for Staff Shortages as Vaccine Mandates Arrive
UNDATED (AP/KPR) - Hospitals and nursing homes around the country are bracing for worsening staff shortages as state deadlines arrive for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. With such rules taking effect this week in states New York, California and Rhode Island, the fear is that some employees will quit or let themselves be fired or suspended rather than take the vaccine. In New York State, some hospitals have already begun suspending or otherwise removing holdouts. Some healthcare workers who don't want to take the vaccine argue that the personal protective equipment they wear will ensure patient safety, just like it did when there was no vaccine and they were hailed as healthcare heroes.
Kansas GOP Lawmakers Push Back on Pandemic Restrictions, Mandates
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/KNS) - Republican legislative leaders have formed a committee to recommend ways that Kansas can resist federal COVID-19 mandates. Monday's move came over objections from Democrats. Republican Senate Vice President Rick Wilborn says policies like Democratic President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate go too far. "It’s just completely out of control," he said. "We need to put a checkmark on the federal government and let ‘em know where we stand.” The recently announced vaccine mandate covers federal workers and private companies with more than 100 employees. Senate Democratic leader Dinah Sykes says the committee will further politicize efforts to stop the spread of the virus, which has already claimed the lives of more than 6,000 Kansans.
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Kansas GOP Lawmakers Question State's Pandemic Response
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Top Republican Kansas lawmakers are forming a committee to examine the impact of COVID-19 mandates and what they call government overreach. This is partly in response to Democratic President Joe Biden's federal vaccine requirements. Republican Senate President Ty Masterson and Republican House Speaker Ron Ryckman will appoint the 11-member panel, which will meet for up to five days and take public testimony. One senior Democrat said the move could further politicize the pandemic. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly and all Kansas House members are up for reelection in 2022.
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Wichita Policeman Sentenced in Arrest Avoidance Case
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A former Wichita police officer has been sentenced to a year of probation after he admitted helping a woman avoid arrest. A probable cause statement says that on May 3, 2019, Matthew Power told a woman who was wanted on a warrant that officers were coming to arrest her. The woman was taken into custody about two weeks later. KAKE-TV reports the woman told detectives that Powell had helped her avoid arrest for months. Powell would serve a year in jail if he violates probation. He also cannot be certified again to work as law enforcement officer.
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Former Utility Worker to Change Plea in Water Scam
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A former Kansas utility worker accused of remotely tampering with a public water system's cleaning procedures has notified a federal court that he plans to change his plea. Wyatt Travnichek was indicted in March with remotely accessing the Post Rock Rural Water District's systems in March 2019, about two months after he quit his job with the utility. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charge. He's accused of shutting down the facility's cleaning and disinfecting procedures. A notation entered in the docket Monday shows his change-of-plea hearing is set for October 20th before U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse in Topeka.
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Settlement Saves Kansas School Districts Money on Gas Bills
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - A settlement will save almost 200 Kansas school districts millions of dollars they owe for natural gas bills from February's record-setting cold snap. During the winter storm, the price of natural gas went from about $2 per unit to more than $600. The Kansas News Service reports that means many districts had bills for one month totaling what they would normally pay in an entire year. Austin Harris works for the Kansas Association of School Boards, which negotiates gas prices for most school districts. He says the settlement will cut many of the bills in half, ultimately saving more than $4 million. In the settlement, the districts agreed to pay the smaller amount in a single lump sum instead of payments spread out over the coming years.
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Topeka Police Investigate Fatal House Fire as Homicide
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Authorities are investigating as a homicide the death of a 29-year-old Topeka man whose body was found when firefighters responded to a house fire. Authorities say Palmer S. Thompson died under suspicious circumstances in Sunday's blaze. A preliminary investigation has determined the fire appears to have been intentionally set. The structure was a total loss.
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Edwards County Undersheriff Arrested
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - Special agents with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation have arrested the Edwards County Undersheriff. The KBI reports that 39-year-old Robert "Bobby" Blackwell, of Kinsley, was involved in a domestic incident Sunday night. Blackwell was arrested on charges of aggravated domestic battery early Monday morning and booked into the Ford County Detention Center.
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Sedgwick County Sheriff's Deputy Arrested for Domestic Battery
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Authorities say a Sedgwick County sheriff's deputy has been arrested twice on the same day stemming from separate incidents involving his domestic partner. The sheriff's office says deputy Aareon White was arrested Sunday by Wichita police on allegations of domestic violence battery. A few hours later, he was arrested again by police for an alleged misdemeanor violation of protection from abuse order. White has been employed by the sheriff's office for about six months. He was suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.
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Topeka Priest Suspended Following Accusations of Abuse
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ A Topeka priest has been suspended from his public duties after being accused of sexually abusing a minor. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas says the Reverend John Pilcher, of Mater Dei parish, denies the allegation and is fully cooperating. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Pilcher will remain on leave during the investigation.
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Teen Dies After Becoming Unresponsive While Being Restrained
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Authorities say a 17-year-old who became unresponsive while being restrained at a Kansas juvenile facility died two days later at a hospital. He was taken into custody by Wichita police on suspicion of three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer. Police took him Friday to the Sedgwick County juvenile intake assessment center, where Col. Brian White of the Sedwick County Sheriff's Office said he assaulted staff. The juvenile was restrained and while restrained he became unresponsive. Emergency medical responders took him to a hospital, where he died Sunday. It is unclear whether the restraints played any role in causing the youth to become unresponsive while in custody.
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Western Wildfires Affecting Air Quality in the Midwest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (NPR's Midwest Newsroom) - Wildfires in California have been on the rise. Now, a new investigation shows how those blazes are affecting air quality, here in the Midwest. Hundreds of miles of desert, mountain ranges and prairies keep Midwesterners safe from the immediate harm of wildfires on the West Coast. But an investigation by the NPR California Newsroom and Stanford University shows these fires are increasingly producing smoke that makes its way into air in the Midwest. Western Kansas and western Nebraska are two areas in the region with the highest increase in smoke days, or days when there’s wildfire smoke in the air. Particles from smoke can impact heart and lung health. Increases in smoke days are more modest in the eastern parts of the two states, including Kansas City. But Kansas Citians were warned in August to limit outdoor activity as smoke from Canadian wildfires swept through the area. Experts say that drier conditions from climate change means more fires and eventually more smoke in the Midwest.
The Midwest Newsroom is a collaboration between NPR and member stations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.
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Sexual Assault Cases Spur Protests on Campuses Across U.S.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Reports of sexual assaults have fueled protests on at least eight U.S. college campuses just weeks into the new school year. Victims' advocates say more young people are vulnerable this year as they settle into campus life after learning remotely because of the pandemic. They also say students seem more engaged in speaking out against campus sexual assault and adept at drumming up support for the cause social media. Sexual assault allegations have led students to demonstrate over the past month at colleges in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Alabama, Michigan, Massachusetts and Missouri. Advocates say COVID-19 restrictions last year kept some sophomores from fully settling into college life, making them more vulnerable to assaults.
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Kansas Restarts Road Projects Delayed by Budget Woes
TOPEKA, Kan.(KPR/KNS) - A highway project may soon be coming to a town near you. Kansas officials say they’re on their way to finishing the highway projects delayed by budget problems under former Republican Governor Sam Brownback and will start rolling out new projects early next year. When Democratic Governor Laura Kelly took office in 2019 and appointed Julie Lorenz to head the Kansas Department of Transportation, there were 16 shelved projects. Now, she says, they’re all moving toward completion. “We’ve let 12 of those projects to construction. So that means those are out the door and underway. And one phase of each of the remaining projects will be let by the end of this year," Lorenz said. That means by early next year KDOT can jump start its new, 10-year, $10 billion Eisenhower Legacy Transportation program approved by lawmakers. Lorenz says one of the first new projects will add an optional toll lane to a stretch of U.S. Highway 69 in suburban Kansas City to ease rush-hour traffic.
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Pilot Program for Prison Mail Raises Civil Rights Concerns
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas has launched a pilot program for mail handling at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility that aims to stem rising drug use by inmates at facilities. It involves scanning incoming mail and passing along only copies to inmates. The originals are destroyed. Corrections officials contend there have been increased cases of the synthetic drug K2 being soaked into sheets of paper and sent into prisons via the mail. Kansas plans to expand the process throughout its prison system, if it proves successful at Ellsworth. Criminal justice reform activists and legal advocates worry about privacy concerns. They argue the power of holding a hand-drawn card from your child shouldn't be underestimated.
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Blood Donations Urgently Needed; American Red Cross Reports Worst Blood Shortage Since 2015
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - The American Red Cross is experiencing an emergency blood shortage, the worst in six years. A sharp drop in blood donor turnout has contributed to the lowest post-summer blood inventory level since 2015. In some areas, the blood inventory is less than a day's supply. Officials say they must collect 10,000 additional blood products each week over the next month for the blood supply to recover and meet hospital and patient needs. Donors of all blood types are needed, but especially those with type O blood. The blood shortage is now so severe that the Red Cross is giving away prizes to those who donate. Those who give blood soon could get a limited-edition, football-inspired Red Cross T-shirt, free haircut coupons from Sport Clips and a coupon for a free Zaxby’s® chicken Sandwich or other freebies. More information is available at RedCrossBlood.org. ( Read more.)
To Make an appointment to give blood or platelets, use the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call (800) RED CROSS (800-733-2767).
Find a list of area blood drives.
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Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Expected Back at Practice After Trip to the University of Kansas Hospital
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid is recovering after being treated and released from the University of Kansas Hospital following Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs released a statement saying Reid was evaluated by the medical staff in the locker room after the game and was transported to the KU Health System for further evaluation. No official word from the team on why Reid was taken to the hospital, but Sunday's game was hot with temps in the 90s and some media outlets have reported that Reid suffered from dehydration. The Chiefs have lost back-to-back games to the Ravens and Chargers and are in last place in the AFC West.
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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!