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Headlines for Wednesday, November 10, 2021

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GOP Wants Kansas to Move Against Vaccine Mandates This Month

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas are pushing to enact new state laws before Thanksgiving to protect workers financially if they refuse to comply with federal mandates to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Top GOP leaders called Tuesday for lawmakers to have a special session to consider proposals making it easier for workers to claim religious exemptions from vaccine mandates and providing unemployment benefits to workers who are fired for refusing to get inoculated. Both proposals emerged from a legislative committee meeting Tuesday and are a response to vaccine mandates announced in September by President Joe Biden. Lawmakers can force a special session if two-thirds of them sign a petition.

(–Related–) 

Kansas Joins States Challenging Biden's Vaccine Mandate for Health Workers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A coalition of 10 states has filed a lawsuit challenging a new rule by President Joe Biden's administration requiring millions of health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The suit filed Wednesday in a Missouri federal court follows similar ones filed by Republican-led states against Biden's vaccine requirements for federal contractors and businesses with more than 100 employees. The latest suit contends the vaccine requirement issued by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid is unprecedented, unreasonably broad and infringes on states' rights. Biden's administration has said its rules supersede state policies and are necessary. Joining the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

(–Earlier Reporting–)

Kansas Lawmakers Closer to Special Session on COVID Mandates

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Support is growing among Republicans to call the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature into a special session before Thanksgiving to enact new laws for protecting workers who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Senate President Ty Masterson said Tuesday that he wants lawmakers to reconvene Nov. 22 to consider proposals he outlined to make it easier for workers to claim religious exemptions from vaccine mandates and to give workers unemployment benefits if they’re fired for refusing to get inoculated. The measures are a response to mandates from President Joe Biden. Masterson and other GOP leaders had been wary of pushing for lawmakers to reconvene before they're set to meet again in January.

GOP Leader Pushing to Protect Kansas Workers Refusing Shots

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Republican lawmaker is pushing to protect the ability of Kansas workers to claim religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates and to provide unemployment benefits if they won’t get inoculated. Senate President Ty Masterson outlined his proposals Tuesday during a meeting of a joint legislative committee looking for ways for Kansas to resist COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by President Joe Biden. The committee was expected to take up Masterson’s proposals. Masterson told reporters during a break in the committee’s meeting that he’s more seriously considering having lawmakers call themselves into special session to consider such proposals. The full GOP-controlled Legislature isn’t scheduled to reconvene until January.

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New Forecast Boosts Kansas Tax Revenue Projections by $1.3 Billion

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new Kansas fiscal forecast predicts that state government will be awash in cash more than enough to allow big tax cuts that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican legislators already planned to pursue. The new forecast increased the projection for the state’s total tax collections by $1.3 billion for the current 2022 budget year that began July 1. The new projection of $8.9 billion is 17.1% higher than the $7.6 billion predicted previously. The forecasters also predicted a 3.2% increase in tax collections for the 2023 budget year. Kelly wants to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries and Republicans like that idea and cutting income taxes as well.

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UPDATE: No COVID Test for Kansas Governor After Lawmaker Is Positive

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has dropped plans to take a rapid COVID-19 test even though a lawmaker who attended one of her public events tested positive. Kelly’s office issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying that she received medical advice that a test wasn’t necessary because she wasn’t showing any symptoms and had not been in close contact with the infected lawmaker. Kelly spokesperson Sam Coleman had said earlier that the governor had decided to get tested upon learning that the lawmaker had tested positive after attending a Kelly news conference Monday at a north Topeka grocery. Kelly announced a proposal for eliminating the state’s sales tax on food

(–Earlier Reporting–)

Kansas Governor to Get COVID Test After Lawmaker's Infection

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly plans to take a rapid COVID-19 test after a lawmaker who attended one of her public events tested positive. Kelly spokesperson Sam Coleman said the governor planned to take the test Wednesday afternoon but has had no symptoms and likely is not infected. Coleman said the governor decided to take the test upon learning that state Representative and Topeka Democrat John Alcala tested positive after attending a Kelly news conference Monday at a north Topeka grocery. Kelly was masked during most of the event and when she was interacting with others. Alcala said he had no contact with Kelly.

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Wichita School District to Help Vaccinate Students

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ The largest school district in Kansas plans to open a COVID-19 immunization site after the vaccine was approved for kids aged 5-11.  Wichita district spokeswoman Susan Arensman said the school system hasn't administered any shots yet to the 5-11 group and won't be going school-by-school with vaccines. Instead, the district will set up a vaccination station at district headquarters that will serve the school community, including students, parents and unvaccinated employees. The Wichita Eagle reports that, earlier in the pandemic, the district developed COVID vaccination capabilities to immunize teachers and staff

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Kansas School District Bars Library from Lending Books After Parent Complains

GODDARD, Kan. (KNS) _  A Kansas school district has removed more than two dozen books from circulation in school libraries because of complaints from a parent.  An administrator in the Goddard district near Wichita ordered librarians to leave the 29 books on the shelves, but bar students from checking them out after a parent raised objections. The list includes well-known titles including novels like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” as well as books dealing with race, gender or sexuality.  It also includes “Fences,” a play by August Wilson that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1987, and “They Called Themselves the KKK,” a historical look at how the white supremacist group took root in America.  Assistant superintendent Julie Cannizzo says one parent objected to language in “The Hate U Give,” a novel about the aftermath of a police officer killing a Black teenager. That parent then submitted a list of books he questioned, and district officials agreed to halt checkouts and complete a review. Cannizzo plans to meet with school librarians this week. She wouldn’t say when or if the books would return to circulation.

(–AP Version–) 

Kansas School District Orders 29 Books Removed from Circulation

GODDARD, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas school district has stripped its library shelves of more than two dozen books that have been challenged in other school systems while it reviews them. KMUW-FM reports that Julie Cannizzo, assistant superintendent for academic affairs in Goddard, said Tuesday that one parent objected to language he found offensive in “The Hate U Give,” a novel about the aftermath of a police officer killing a Black teenager. The parent then submitted a list of books he questioned, and district officials agreed to halt checkouts and complete a review.

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Topeka's Seaman School District Votes to Keep Name

TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) _Members of the majority white Seaman school board in Topeka have voted to keep the district’s name, which comes from Fred Seaman, a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. The school board voted to condemn the beliefs of its founder but keep his name. Many students in the district have asked the board to change the name. High school junior Alyssa Rivera says she finds the name demeaning. “By not changing the name now, and by forcing students of color to wear his name on our jerseys and diplomas, we’re being told that he is more important than we are," Rivera said. The 4,000-student district is mostly white. Most parents who participated in a survey said they wanted to keep the name.  Newspaper articles from the 1920s name Fred Seaman as the "Exalted Cyclops" of the Topeka -area KKK.

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Kansas Governor Proposes Ending State Sales Tax on Groceries

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Governor Laura Kelly is proposing to eliminate the Kansas sales tax on groceries. The plan outlined by the Democratic governor Monday would save many families hundreds of dollars a year and consumers a total of $450 million a year. She unveiled her proposal three days after Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt called on the GOP-controlled Legislature to reduce or eliminate the tax next year. Schmidt hopes to unseat Kelly in the 2022 governor’s race. Their support is likely to make reducing or ending the 6.5% state sales tax on groceries a top issue for lawmakers once they reconvene in January. Kansas has the second-highest state sales tax rate on groceries.

(– Additional Coverage –)

Governor Pushing to End High Kansas Sales Tax on Groceries

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Many Kansas families would save hundreds of dollars a year under a proposal from Democratic Governor Laura Kelly to eliminate the state’s sales tax on groceries. The proposal outlined Monday by Kelly would save consumers $6.50 on every $100 of groceries they buy and a total of roughly $450 million a year. The governor unveiled her proposal three days after GOP Attorney General Derek Schmidt called on lawmakers to cut or eliminate the 6.5% tax. With both of them supporting the idea, it's more likely to pass the Legislature after lawmakers reconvene in January. Kelly promised in her 2018 race for governor to reduce or eliminate the tax.

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Kansas Faces Staffing Shortage for Winter Highway Clearing

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Transportation says it is facing a staffing shortage that could slow the clearing of highways in winter storms. The department said Tuesday that it is about 30% short of being fully staffed with snowplow operators across the state. The agency said the staffing shortage is worse this year than it has been in the past. Transportation Secretary Julie Lorenz said the staffing shortage means that with inclement weather, some highways might not be cleared as quickly as they have been in the past. She said she’s warning motorists now so they can plan ahead or alter travel plans when the state faces winter storms.

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Police: Student Stabbed Outside Kansas City, Kansas School

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police say a student is recovering after being stabbed outside Schlagle High School in Kansas City, Kansas. Police say the stabbing happened around 7 a.m. Tuesday on school grounds before classes began. The student was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. Police say two other students were taken into custody for questioning after the attack. Police have not released the identities of any of the students involved.

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Death of 1-Year-Old Topeka Boy Under Investigation

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ Authorities are investigating the death of a 1-year-old boy in Topeka.  City spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker said emergency responders were called around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. The child then was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the boy's name hasn't been made public. His cause and manner of death remain undetermined.

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Woman Says Her Sister Identified Wrong Man in 1978 Missouri Slayings

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Two more witnesses have testified that the only eyewitness to a 1978 triple murder in Kansas City told them that she identified the wrong suspect.  Cecile "Cookie" Simmons testified Tuesday that her sister, Cynthia Douglas, tried to tell prosecutors in the past that Kevin Strickland was not involved in the shootings but she was told it was "too late" to recant her identification.  Douglas' ex-husband also testified that she told him she identified the wrong man. The testimony came in the second day of an evidentiary hearing that could lead to Strickland's release. Strickland testified on Monday and adamantly denied having any role in the murders. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and other legal and political leaders believe Strickland was wrongfully convicted and say that much of the evidence used to convict him had been recanted or disproven since his trial.  Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is fighting the release, saying he believes Strickland is guilty and should remain in prison.

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White Kansas City Officer on Trial in Black Man's 2019 Death

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A trial is underway for a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer accused of involuntary manslaughter in a 2019 shooting — the first time that a white officer from the city has been criminally accused of killing a Black man. Officer Eric J. DeValkenaere also is charged with armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. The officer says he shot Lamb after Lamb pointed a gun at another detective. But DeValkenaere's partner told a grand jury he did not see Lamb with a weapon. The killing was often evoked in protests last year against racial injustice in Kansas City. The Kansas City Star reports the bench trial is expected to last a week.

CORRECTION: 
The Associated Press issued a correction to this story on November 19, 2021. The AP, based on a story from The Kansas City Star, reported that the case was the first in which a white officer in the city was charged in the death of a Black person. It was not. Such a case also happened in 1942. 

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Man Who Stabbed, Ran over Doctor Sentenced to Life in Prison

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 26-year-old man who stabbed a Wichita psychiatrist more than 160 times and then ran over him with a car has been sentenced to life in prison. Umar Dutt was sentenced Tuesday for first-degree murder in the death of 57-year-old Dr. Achutha Reddy in September 2017. Dutt pleaded guilty in September. Prosecutors said police found Reddy's body behind Holistic Psychiatric Services clinic, where Dutt was a client of Reddy's. He entered the building and began assaulting Reddy, who escaped before Dutt caught up with him in the alley. Prosecutors said Dutt stabbed Reddy 165 times and ran him over with a car.

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Kansas Man Accused of Letting Children Be Sexually Assaulted

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence man is accused of allowing children in his care to be sexually assaulted in exchange for rent.  A Douglas County judge has ruled that 42-year-old Cormick Ferrell, of Lawrence, should stand trial on two counts of aggravated human trafficking.  Prosecutors say Ferrell allowed a former landlord to sexually assault two children in exchange for rent during a period of more than three years. The children were 6 and 7-years-old when the alleged assaults began. Ferrell's attorney, Branden Smith, argued in court that there was no documentation showing Ferrell received any rent assistance in exchange for letting the landlord assault the children. The landlord, Mark Strand, is also facing charges but he's currently in federal prison following a conviction in an unrelated case that involved a minor and sexual activity.  

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FBI: Suspected Serial Killer's Tattoo Played Role in Capture

UNDATED (AP) – Security camera footage, shell casings and a small but distinctive tattoo played pivotal roles in the arrest of a man suspected in at least six killings over the past two months in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office on Tuesday charged Perez Deshay Reed in the shooting deaths of two people in September. Reed was charged Saturday in two other fatal shootings that month in St. Louis County. He is also suspected of killing two people more recently in Kansas City, Kansas, and the FBI has called him a suspected serial killer.

(–Related–)

St. Louis County Man Charged in 2 Deaths, Under Investigation in KCK Homicides

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis County man is charged with two separate killings, and police are trying to determine if he was involved in at least four other homicides in Missouri and Kansas. Perez Deshay Reed is suspected of killing a 16-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man in September in St. Louis County. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, citing a police affidavit filed in federal court, says Reed could be tied to at least four other homicides and additional shootings. Police are investigating if Reed killed two people whose bodies were found earlier this month in an apartment complex in Kansas City, Kansas. He is also suspected in at least two St. Louis city killings.

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Police Say 11-Year-Old Central Missouri Girl Dies After Being Hit by Car 

SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) _ Police in central Missouri say an 11-year-old girl has died after being hit by a vehicle on a Sedalia street. Television station WDAF reports that police were called to a city intersection around 3 p.m. Monday and found the injured girl. Officials say attempts were made to save the girl's life, but she died of her injuries at the scene. Police have not yet released her name. No information about the vehicle that hit her or its driver has been released. 

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Man Charged in 2020 Killing of Pregnant Woman in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ A 19-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death last year of a pregnant Kansas City woman as she was pushing her baby in a stroller. David Everson was charged Monday in the July 2020 death of 20-year-old Diamon Eichelburger. Everson is the second person charged in Eichelburger's death. Last year, police arrested Jovon Burrell in the killing, saying he was driving the car from which Eichelburger was shot. Police say Eichelburger was pushing a stroller with her 1-year-old child and walking with her boyfriend at a convenience store when a car pulled up and someone inside it asked if she was Diamon. When she confirmed her identity, someone in the car shot her several times. The child in the stroller was not hurt. 

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Two Killed in Southeast Kansas When Car Slams into Tractor

WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) _ Authorities in southeastern Kansas say two people were killed when the car they were in slammed into a farm combine harvester on a road and erupted in flames. The Cowley County Sheriff's Office says the crash happened Sunday on a county road just north of Winfield when the southbound car hit the combine, went underneath the farm implement and caught fire. Officials say two people in the car died. Sheriff David Falletti told KAKE that the two killed have not yet been identified, and autopsies have been ordered. The driver of the combine was not injured. 

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19-Year-Old to Graduate from Washburn's School of Law

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ A 19-year-old is getting ready to graduate from Washburn University's School of Law in Topeka. The Hutchinson News reports that Braxton Moral's parents have long known he was gifted. He skipped fourth grade and then took his first undergraduate class at Harvard University while still in sixth grade. As he got older, he spent his summers at Cambridge.  But when the school year started he switched to online classes so he wouldn't miss out on experiences like prom and homecoming at Ulysses High School. Next month, Braxton Moral will receive his juris doctor degree. In February, he will take the bar exam.

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Feds Propose Threatened Status for Alligator Snapping Turtle

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing threatened status for alligator snapping turtles -- huge, spike-shelled beasts that lurk at the bottom of slow waterways, luring prey to their mouths by extending a wormlike lure. Every state in their range now protects them, but the lingering effects of catching the reptiles for turtle soup are among reasons their numbers are now so low. They once were found in Kansas and Indiana, but their territory now spans 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

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Big 12 Eyeing as Many as 9 of 10 Teams Bowl-Eligible

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Half of the 10 teams in the Big 12 already have the six wins needed to go to a bowl game. Kansas State and Iowa State joined the club last weekend. They joined fourth-ranked Oklahoma, which at 9-0 is eyeing a spot in the college football playoff, 10th-ranked Oklahoma State and No. 18 Baylor in ensuring they’ll be playing in the postseason. Four more could reach the six-win plateau and make nine of the 10 teams in the league eligible.

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Paralympic Games Wheelchair Tennis Champ Nick Taylor Retires

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Three-time Paralympic wheelchair tennis champion medalist Nick Taylor has announced his retirement. Taylor won 11 Grand Slam doubles titles with David Wagner — seven at the U.S. Open and four at the Australian Open. At the Paralympic Games, they won gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012, along with a silver in 2016. Taylor also won the quad singles bronze in 2012. The pair played together at an event at the USTA National Campus in Orlando over the weekend,  and it was Taylor’s farewell to competition. Taylor, who is from Wichita and is an assistant tennis coach at Wichita State University, turns 42 this week.

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Agbaji's Career Night Helps KU Top Michigan State

NEW YORK (AP) — Ochai Agbaji scored a career-high 29 points and No. 3 Kansas beat Michigan State 87-74 at the Champions Classic on the opening night of college basketball. Remy Martin added 15 points and David McCormack had 10 for the Jayhawks, who returned four starters from last season’s squad that lost to USC in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks were missing forward Jalen Wilson, who was suspended last week for the first three regular season games after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving last month. A.J. Hoggard scored 17 points and Julius Marble added 13 for the Spartans.

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Former US Defender Besler Retires After 13 Years in MLS

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former U.S. men’s national team defender Matt Besler announced his retirement Wednesday after 13 seasons in Major League Soccer. Besler was a five-time MLS All-Star. The 34-year-old spent most of his career with Sporting Kansas City before signing this season with Austin. Besler played 47 matches for the national team from 2013-2017. That includes all four matches of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the U.S. advanced to the round of 16. He was the MLS defender of the year in 2012 and helped Kansas City win the league championship in 2013.

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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!