Police: Topeka Shooting Leaves Baby Critically Injured
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Topeka are investigating an early-morning shooting that left a one-year-old baby critically injured. KSNT TV reports that the shooting happened around 4 am Tuesday, when someone riddled a home near Eighth Street and Southeast Sherman Avenue with gunfire. Police say one of the shots hit a baby inside the home. Investigators report they found about two dozen bullet casings in the street outside the home. Officers called to the scene found a family leaving the home with the baby and rushed the child in critical condition to an area hospital. The names of the baby and family members were not immediately released, and no arrests have been announced.
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Kansas Governor: Medical Pot Should Fund Medicaid Expansion
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Governor Laura Kelly is proposing that Kansas legalize marijuana for medical use to generate revenues that would finance an expansion of the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy. Kelly has made expanding Medicaid for as many as 165,000 additional Kansas residents a top priority since becoming governor two years ago, but top Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature have prevented its passage. Kelly also previously said she’d sign a medical marijuana bill but she hadn’t actively pushed the idea. She is wedding two ideas that are likely to face strong opposition among Republican legislative leaders and many rank-and-file GOP lawmakers.
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GOP Lawmakers Narrow Bill for Cutting Kansas Income Taxes
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers narrowed their proposal to cut Kansas income taxes before it cleared its first legislative hurdle. A GOP leader said Wednesday that they’ll put off further action at least a short while to consider how the plan might affect the next state budget. The Republican-controlled Senate tax committee endorsed a bill reducing income taxes by about $170 million during the budget year that begins July 1. The measure would provide relief to individuals and businesses paying more in state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws in 2017. The bill initially would have provided $329 million in relief during the next budget year.
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Kansas Lawmakers Push Civics Test for High School Graduation
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ A Kansas lawmaker and the state's Republican attorney general are pushing a bill to require high school students to pass a civics test to graduate. The goal, they say, is to increase civic engagement. The proposal is facing pushback from members of the largest teacher's union in the state, the second-largest school district and the Kansas Association of School Boards, which say that Kansas students are already getting an education in civics in government and history classes. The Kansas State Board of Education, which rejected a similar proposal about six years ago, also opposes the bill.
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COVID-19 Caseload in Kansas Continues Climb Past 278,000; Deaths Approach 3900
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported Wednesday that there have been 278,915 cases of COVID-19, including 3,895 deaths, since the pandemic began. That's an increase of 2,247 cases and 86 deaths since Monday. KDHE will provide another update on Friday.
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COVID-19 Hospitalizations Decline in Sedgwick County
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) - The number of people with COVID-19 who need hospital treatment is declining in Sedgwick County. For the first time in three months, the status of local hospital capacity was downgraded from “critical” to “cautious.” Sedgwick County’s weekly update shows the area’s hospitals have 148 COVID-19 patients, with 46 of them in an intensive care unit (ICU). Both counts are down to their lowest levels since October. County leaders say they’re cautiously optimistic that the nine-week trend of declining hospitalizations will continue. Despite the improving numbers, hospitals remain at capacity for ICU beds overall and continue with contingency operations.
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Kansas GOP Lawmakers Not Yet Mollified on State's COVID-19 Unemployment Scam Defenses
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas labor officials are saying that new security protocols are blocking thousands of fraudulent attempts every hour to access Kansas’s unemployment benefits system. But those assurances did little Wednesday to dispel the concerns of Republican lawmakers. The state Department of Labor reported that it had blocked more than 538,000 attempts from internet bots or human scammers to log into its unemployment system during the 27 hours after a shutdown of the system ended Tuesday morning. The department shut down the system Saturday afternoon to add new security protocols after a flood of fraudulent claims for benefits. GOP lawmakers still worry that Kansas is losing millions of dollars to scammers.
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GOP Moves to Condemn Early COVID-19 Shots for Kansas Inmates
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas are moving toward formally condemning Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s decision to give prison inmates COVID-19 vaccinations ahead of others. The state Senate’s health committee agreed Tuesday to sponsor a resolution from its GOP chair, Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, that calls on Kelly to reverse her policy on inoculating inmates. The full Senate could debate it later this week.
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Lawmaker Revises Plan on Allowing Sale of Flavored Vaping Products
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — A Kansas lawmaker is backing off a ban on flavored vaping products. Republican Representative John Eplee originally proposed banning the sale of all flavored vaping products. His new proposal asks that the state raise the age to buy vapes and other tobacco products. The move is mostly symbolic because federal law already sets the age at 21 but by complying, Kansas will still be eligible for certain federal grants. Eplee says flavored vapes are less of a problem now that the age to buy them is higher. “I’m not naïve. I know there will still be black market application and use of flavored vapes under 21.” Eplee said. “But at least we’ve set a standard that we won’t allow it and it’s illegal.” Some health advocates want to ban flavored vapes because they can be a gateway to young people becoming addicted to nicotine.
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Kansas Tightens Oversight of Troubled Foster Care Provider
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The top child welfare official in Kansas says her agency has tightened financial oversight of one of the state’s largest foster care management providers. The Kansas Department for Children and Families said in a news release Wednesday that provisions have been added to the grant agreement with Salina-based Saint Francis Ministries. Secretary Laura Howard says she remains concerned about Saint Francis Ministries' prior lack of transparency regarding their financial health. The state’s child welfare agency said in December employees of Saint Francis Ministries had falsified documents to show visits with families that never took place.
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Kansas Renegotiates Contract with Foster Care Provider
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Kansas officials have renegotiated a contract with one of the state’s largest foster care providers. The new agreement follows complaints that the organization misused millions of dollars. The Kansas Department for Children and Families says it has entered into a new contract with Saint Francis Ministries, which provides foster care services in the western and central parts of the state. The contract requires Saint Francis to provide the state with a three-year business plan by March 1. St. Francis must also report its cash flows, budgets and other financial information in detail. The state would withhold some payments if the nonprofit doesn’t meet those requirements. Saint Francis recently renegotiated its child welfare contract in Nebraska. Kansas is currently auditing the nonprofit for reported financial mismanagement. Leadership at Saint Francis reportedly spent thousands of dollars on sports tickets and agreed to pay millions of dollars to the business partner of the group’s former president.
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Department of Labor Says Unemployment Website is Back Online
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Labor says it has its system for providing unemployment benefits back online after shutting it down for several days to add security protocols to combat fraudulent claims. Republicans have been concerned about the Department of Labor’s ability to get benefits to the unemployed and to thwart scammers. They worry that individuals face paying taxes on benefits they didn’t receive and employers are on the hook for covering some or all of the costs of bogus benefits until the fraud is fully detected. The unemployment system’s reboot required jobless workers to register again for benefits, and the department said more than 9,500 did so within several hours. About 1,400 failed to verify their identities and needed to try again, while fewer than 150 people “experienced an error of some sort,” Department of Labor spokesperson Jerry Grasso said in an email.
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Missouri Health Officials Announce Vaccine Distribution Plan
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri health officials have released a list of hospitals that will receive more than half of the state's COVID-19 vaccinations during February. The Missouri Hospital Association and the state's health department said 53% of the 76,000 weekly doses the state receives will go the hospitals, which are in regions spread across the state. The hospitals were chosen because they each have the capacity to administer 5,000 doses per week. The rest of the vaccine will be divided between regional mass vaccination events, local public health agencies, federally qualified health centers and other community providers. The list of providers will expand as the state receives more vaccine.
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Kansas Mayor Accused of Perjury Gets Diversion Agreement
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — The mayor of Shawnee, Kansas, has reached a diversion agreement with prosecutors that would resolve a perjury charge stemming from an open meetings complaint she filed using the name of another person without his permission. The Kansas City Star reports a court notation against Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler indicates a diversion order was entered on Tuesday. The investigation was opened last year after a local government “watchdog” informed police that he had received an email from the state attorney general’s office confirming receipt of his open records complaint he had not filed.
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Officials ID Skeletal Remains Found Near Gardner Lake
GARDNER, Kan. (AP) _ The Johnson County Sheriff's Office has identified skeletal remains found last month near Gardner Lake in northeast Kansas. Television station WDAF reports that officials announced Tuesday that the remains are those of 48-year-old Matthew Lee Manion. Officials say the cause of death remains under investigation. Manion's remains were found January 11 near the lake located just north of Gardner and recovered by crime scene investigators and detectives the next day. No other information on Manion or the investigation was immediately released.
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2 Wichita Officers Have Minor Injuries During Police Chase
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two Wichita police officers suffered minor injuries when their car was hit while pursuing a suspect. Wichita police Lt. Scott Moon said the chase began early Tuesday when police approached a person suspected for trying to break into vehicles. Moon says during the chase, a vehicle hit a patrol car from behind with enough force to launch the car into a parking lot. That vehicle then drove over several obstacles and hit a second police vehicle. Police then called off the chase. The suspect was later arrested. KAKE-TV reports two officers were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
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For the First Time, Wind Provides More Power in Midwest than Coal
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNS) - For the first time, wind power was the number one source of electricity for the central U.S. in 2020. Wind provided about 31.3% of all the electricity generated in the footprint of the Southwest Power Pool last year. That power pool coordinates electricity for all or part of 12 states in the central U.S., including Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. It’s the first time wind has been the top source of electricity for any of the country’s regional grid operators. Coal provided the second largest source of electricity in the region.
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Congress to Investigate Safety at U.S. Meatpacking Plants
WASHINGTON, (KNS) - A congressional subcommittee has launched an investigation into worker safety violations at meatpacking plants. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis has sent letters to the three largest meatpacking plant companies: JBS, Smithfield and Tyson, as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which the committee alleges was too lenient in its COVID safety response. Illinois Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi is a member of the subcommittee. He says the Trump administration was too lax in its oversight of the meatpacking industry. “A lot of people unnecessarily got sick and a lot of people died.” Krishnamoorthi said. “We cannot tolerate that any longer.” Representatives from JBS and Smithfield say they’ve invested millions of dollars in safety measures and have implemented numerous health protections for their workers.
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UMKC Graduate to Share in Invention Profits Under Deal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri graduate who said his professor stole his invention for a drug delivery system will share in its profits under a settlement that also gives the University of Missouri System a cut of the revenue. The Kansas City Star reports that Kishore Cholkar will get at least $1.4 million under the settlement for research done while he was working toward a doctorate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The deal announced in December ended the university's nearly two-year court battle against former professor Ashim Mitra; the drug development company, Auven Therapeutics Management; and the manufacturer that brought Cequa to market, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.
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Study: Killings Surge in 2020; Pandemic, Protests Play Roles
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Killings rose dramatically across the U.S. last year, and one study suggests that the coronavirus pandemic and protests over racial injustice were factors. The study by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, along with Arnold Ventures, looked at crime rates in 34 cities. It found a 30% spike in homicides in 2020 compared to 2019. Study leaders called for urgent action to improve relations with police and expand anti-violence initiatives. A study author says many officers were forced to quarantine last year, and maintaining social distancing kept them from the sort of community outreach needed to help stop violence before it happens.
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KU Jayhawks Prevail In Win Over Kansas State in “Sunflower Showdown”
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) — The Kansas University Jayhawks defeated the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 74-to-51 Tuesday night in the annual, in-state rivalry match, known as the Sunflower Showdown. KU Junior forward David McCormack and sophomore guard Christian Braun each scored18 points. McCormack also had 10 rebounds which made for his fifth career double-double and fourth this season. Mike McGuirl and Nijel Pack had 10 points each for Kansas State. The KU win moves the Jayhawks to 12-6 overall this season and 6-4 in Big 12 play, while Kansas State falls to 5-14 overall and 1-9 in the conference. Tuesday night’s win at Allen Fieldhouse marks the Jayhawks’ 200th overall win over Kansas State, the most all-time victories over an opponent in NCAA Division I history.
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Sporting KC Signs French Defender Nicolas Isimat-Mirin
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Sporting Kansas City has signed veteran French defender Nicolas Isimat-Mirin to a two-year contract that includes an option for the 2023 season. Isimat-Mirin has played more than 250 professional matches since 2010, most of them in the top soccer divisions in France, the Netherlands and Turkey. He won three league titles as a member of PSV Eindhoven and gained experience in the Champions League and Europa League before spending a stint with Turkish powerhouse Besiktas.
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