Kansas Officials Prepare for Potential Coronavirus Fight
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas health department's top administrator says health officials are monitoring up to a dozen people a day for the possibility that they have the new coronavirus. Secretary Lee Norman also said Wednesday that the Department of Health and Environment now can do its own testing. Norman had a news conference with Gov. Laura Kelly a day after the department launched an online resource center to disseminate information about coronavirus. A legislative committee also approved an increase Wednesday in state aid to local health departments. Kansas has had no confirmed cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, but Norman said a positive test in inevitable.
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Report: Coronavirus Outbreak Making Mark on Midwest Economy
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Worries about a new virus that's infected tens of thousands of people globally are making a mark on the economy of a nine-state region in the Midwest and Plains. A new survey report says the Mid-American Business Conditions Index sank in February to 52.8 from 57.2 in January. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the softer reading and the economic harm from the virus should concern policymakers. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth. A score below suggests decline. The survey covers Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
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Justices OK State Charges for Immigrants Who Use Fake IDs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is making it easier for states to prosecute immigrants who use fake Social Security numbers to get a job. The issue for the court was whether states could pursue the immigrants in court or had to leave those choices to the federal government, which typically has authority over immigration. The court ruled 5-4 Tuesday, with conservatives in the majority, that nothing in federal immigration law prevents states from going after immigrants who use phony identification. It reversed a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that the federal government has exclusive authority to determine whether an immigrant may work in the United States.
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Judge Allows Lawsuit by Wrongly Convicted Man to Continue
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (The Kansas City Star) — A federal judge has ruled a Kansas man whose murder conviction was vacated after he spent 23 years in prison can proceed with key claims in his lawsuit against a police officer and others. After Lamonte McIntyre's conviction for a double murder was vacated in 2017, he sued the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, and police officers involved in the investigation. Federal judge Kathryn Vratil on Tuesday rejected a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. McIntyre and his mother allege Kansas City, Kansas, police conducted a sloppy investigation and he was framed because his mother refused one officer's sexual demands.
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Man Charged with Running Kansas Drug Ring from Oklahoma Cell
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man serving a 90-year sentence for participating in the 1993 murder of a Kansas corrections officer is charged in a 55-count federal indictment with running a drug ring from his Oklahoma prison cell. The U.S. attorney's office said in a news release Wednesday that 47-year-old Travis Knighten was the brains behind a criminal organization that distributed methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine powder, crack cocaine and marijuana in Wichita. No attorney is listed for Knighten in online court records. Knighten, who is incarcerated at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, is serving a 90-year sentence for killing Officer Mark Avery in March 1993 during a fight in the Lansing (Kansas) Correctional Facility.
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Wichita Man Sentenced for Embezzling from Retired Widow
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A retired financial adviser who took more than $800,000 from a retired widow has been sentenced to three years and two months in prison. Seventy-three-year-old Walter Hollis, of Wichita, was sentenced Tuesday for one count of felony theft. Prosecutors say he embezzled the money from a 75-year-old widow between 2014 and 2018 after she had been his client for several years. Hollis took the money from two trust funds. He was ordered to pay $822,322 in restitution. The woman testified Tuesday that Hollis destroyed her sense of security and denied her descendants their inheritance. Hollis blamed his crime on a gambling addiction and a difficult upbringing.
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University of Kansas Settles Age Discrimination Suit
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has settled an age discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of a former employee who said he was ousted in retaliation for raising the alarm that his department was told to fill job openings with mainly young people. KCUR Radio reports that under a consent decree last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the school pledged to not discriminate against employees or applicants based on age and to give the former worker, Jeffrey Thomas, $144,000 in back pay and damages.
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Kansas Man Who Created Nonprofit Sentenced for Bank Fraud
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man who admitted to creating a nonprofit, depositing fake checks and then withdrawing $2,000 in real money has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. The Wichita Eagle reports that 29-year-old Nyron Bowen also was ordered Tuesday to pay restitution. He previously pleading guilty to bank fraud. In his guilty plea, Bowen admitted to depositing the forged checks into an account at Emprise Bank for a non-profit corporation he created called Kids On Safe Streets. He got the cash from ATM withdrawals, causing a financial loss for the bank.
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Missouri Pays $2 Million in Prison Worker Discrimination Settlement
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri shelled out more than $2 million last month to settle the latest worker discrimination case against the state's prison system. Richard Dixson, a white employee of the minimum security Kansas City Re-Entry Center, was awarded the money after a jury agreed in 2017 that he was subjected to racial discrimination and a contentious work environment. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the state attorney general’s office publicly released records Monday showing that Dixson received a check for $651,000 in January and his attorney collected $951,585. The remaining money went to court expenses and a state fund that reserves cash for victims.
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KCK Police: 2 Killed in Fatal Shooting
Authorities are investigating after two people were killed in a Kansas City, Kansas, shooting. Police said in a news release that officers responded to the scene around 10 pm Monday and found the victims dead in a parking lot. Police didn't immediately release the names of the victims or any suspect information.
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Topeka Police: 18-Year-Old Arrested in Deadly Shooting
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have arrested an 18-year-old in a deadly Topeka shooting. Topeka police say Dmario Valdivia was taken into custody around 2 pm Monday and later booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the death of 19-year-old Ja'Sean Alston. No formal charges have been filed, and it wasn't immediately clear if Valdivia had an attorney. Police say Alston was found suffering from life-threatening injuries in a car around 1:30 am Friday. He then was taken to a hospital, where he died. Police haven't release a motive for the shooting.
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Kansas Legislature Considers Proposal to Restrict Transmission Lines
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Legislature is considering a proposal that would require utilities to undergo a rigorous permitting process before they install transmission lines in urban areas, including allowing communities to comment on the plans. In 2018, Evergy replaced older, wooden poles with metal poles that were taller and wider in some Wichita neighborhoods. The project occurred with little public notice in predominantly low-income and black communities, and prompted a wealth of complaints. The bill requires utilities to undergo a permitting process for transmission lines in urban areas that includes a public hearing. The House approved the legislation last week and it now goes to the Senate.
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Victim Killed in Kansas City's Westport Entertainment District Was Just 17 Years Old
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say the victim killed in a shooting that also wounded four people in a popular Kansas City entertainment district was just 17 years old. Police identified the teen as Devin Harris, and said three men injured in the Westport shooting are in stable condition. Two of them had been in critical condition. A women also sustained non-life threatening injuries around 1:30 am Saturday after shots were fired by occupants of a sport utility vehicle. Twenty-five-year-old Devon Carter is jailed on $150,000 bond on charges of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action in the shooting.
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Police Arrest Man in Deadly Weekend Shooting in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man has been arrested in connection with a deadly shooting in a popular Kansas City entertainment district that killed one person and injured four others. Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said 25-year-old Devon L. Carter has been charged with armed criminal action in connection with the shooting that happened around 1:30 am Saturday. Prosecutors said the shooting appeared to be related to an earlier altercation that took place inside a Westport nightclub. Police said a gunman fired shots from a white sport utility vehicle traveling in the Westport district in midtown Kansas City, Missouri.
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Kansas Man Who Created Nonprofit Sentenced for Bank Fraud
WICHITA, Kan. (The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle) — A Wichita man who admitted to creating a nonprofit, depositing fake checks and then withdrawing $2,000 in real money has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. The Wichita Eagle reports that 29-year-old Nyron Bowen also was ordered Tuesday to pay restitution. He previously pleading guilty to bank fraud. In his guilty plea, Bowen admitted to depositing the forged checks into an account at Emprise Bank for a non-profit corporation he created called Kids On Safe Streets. He got the cash from ATM withdrawals, causing a financial loss for the bank.
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Missouri Man in Prison for Wife's 1990 Death Seeks Clemency
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 75-year-old Missouri inmate who has insisted for 30 years that he didn't kill his wife is clinging to hope that Gov. Mike Parson will grant him clemency. Kathy Middleton died from a gunshot wound in her Blue Springs home on Feb. 20, 1990, and her husband, Ken, was sentenced to life and 200 years for first-degree murder. Middleton's son and investigators who have studied the case contend evidence didn't support Middleton's conviction. They allege corruption and the incompetence of police, defense attorneys and prosecutors landed him in jail. Parson's office refuses to discuss any pending clemency requests.
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KPR's daily headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. KPR's weekend summary is usually published by 1 pm Saturdays and Sundays.
