Kansas Governor Declares State of Emergency Due to Flooding
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer has issued a state of emergency declaration for five Kansas counties hit by flooding during the Labor Day weekend. Jewell, Kingman, Marshall, Pratt and Riley counties are named in Tuesday's declaration. The governor's office said in a news release that the declaration could be expanded as damage assessments are conducted. The five counties were hit by up to 9 inches of rain Sunday night into Monday, and more than 300 people were evacuated from around Manhattan. No deaths or serious injuries were reported. Besides flooding, the counties reported washed out roads, bridges and culverts.
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Opponent Says Kobach Unfit to Lead Due to Immigration Stance
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — One of Republican Kris Kobach's main opponents says he's not qualified to be Kansas governor because of his tough stance on illegal immigration. Independent candidate Greg Orman said Wednesday during a candidate forum that Kobach does not understand how the state's agricultural economy relies on immigrant labor. Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman, and the Democratic nominee, state Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, said illegal immigration is largely a federal issue that requires comprehensive reforms from Washington. Kobach brushed off the criticism. He has made fighting illegal immigration a key issue in his campaign and argued that states can set policies to discourage it. He said he would be the first governor to seriously tackle the issue. Orman told Kobach that immigration is only a "red meat issue" for fellow conservatives.
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Former Kansas GOP Governor Bill Graves Endorses Democratic Nominee Laura Kelly
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former moderate Republican Governor Bill Graves has endorsed Democrat Laura Kelly in the Kansas governor's race. Kelly's campaign announced the endorsement Monday and posted a YouTube video of Graves praising Kelly, a veteran state senator from Topeka. Graves says in the video that Kelly will bring Republicans and Democrats together to solve problems. The former GOP governor's endorsement came after the union representing firefighters in Kansas endorsed Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach last week. It previously has endorsed Democrats. Kelly and independent candidate Greg Orman are wooing moderate Republicans alienated by Kobach's conservative politics and advocacy of tough immigration policies. Graves served two terms as governor from 1995 until 2003. He won re-election in 1998 with a record 73 percent of the vote but clashed frequently with GOP conservatives.
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Kansas Collected $6 Million More in Taxes than Expected in August
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is reporting that it collected $6 million more in taxes in August than expected to extend its longest streak of better-than-anticipated revenues in at least 50 years. The state Department of Revenue reported Monday that tax collections were $494 million last month. The state's official forecast had predicted $488 million. The monthly surplus was 1.3 percent. It was the 15th consecutive month that tax collections have been better than forecast. An AP spreadsheet compiled from monthly reports shows the state hasn't seen such a long streak since at least February 1968. Since the current fiscal year began in July, tax collections have run almost $18 million ahead of expectations for a 1.8 percent surplus. The state also ended its last fiscal year on June 30 with better-than-expected tax collections.
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Man Testified He Chopped Up Wife's Body to Protect His Children
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A man charged after investigators found him and two young children in a Kansas storage shed with bags of his wife's remains says he cut up her body to protect his family. During a preliminary hearing Tuesday, 36-year-old Justin Rey testified that dismembered his wife's body at a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel in October 2017. Investigators later found him and two small children with the remains at a Lenexa storage unit. He said he was taking the remains back to Arizona for burial. Rey has said his wife died in childbirth but also told investigators she committed suicide. The Kansas City Star reports a not guilty plea was entered for Rea. Rey is charged in Kansas and Missouri with child endangerment. He's charged with abandonment of corpse in Missouri. He isn't charged in his wife's killing.
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State Welfare Officials Raise Questions in Death of Twin
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — State welfare officials say police should have considered taking 2-month-old twins into protective custody before one of them died at a west Wichita motel. The Wichita Eagle reports that in the Wichita area, when police put children into protective custody, it often means taking them initially to a facility that offers emergency, temporary care. From there, they can go to a foster home or relative while the child protection system determines an eventual placement. Instead, police put the infants with a relative on August 28 after finding that their parents were intoxicated at the motel where the family stayed. The next afternoon, the relative returned the babies to the parents. One of the twins was found dead at the motel Thursday morning. The parents have been arrested.
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Wichita Parents Charged in Death of 2-Month-Old Boy at Motel
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The parents of a 2-month-old boy found dead at a Wichita motel are now charged with involuntary manslaughter and several counts of child endangerment. The baby's father, Kyle Kempton, and his mother, Christy Rollings, were both charged Tuesday in the death of Patrick Kempton at the Scotsman Inn. The parents will have court-appointed attorneys and are due back in court on September 20. The Wichita Eagle reports the boy was found dead beside his father in a motel bed last Thursday. His twin was not injured and was put into protective custody. Officer Charlie Davidson says officers found the parents intoxicated two days before the child was found dead. The children were placed with a relative after that incident but the relative returned them to their parents.
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Man Sentenced After Leaving Child Sex Cartoons at Library
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City man who left child sex cartoons on a public library's printer has been sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison. Federal prosecutors say 63-year-old David Buie was sentenced Tuesday for possessing obscene images of the sexual abuse of children. After serving his sentence, he will be on supervised release for the rest of his life. Buie was already on parole for possession of child pornography in July 2017 when an employee of the Mid-Continent Public Library found the images on a library printer. Investigators determined Buie's library card was used for the printer and library cameras showed Buie using a computer when the images were printed. Investigators say Buie didn't realize the printer had run out of toner and only half his pages had printed.
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Fund Started for 2 Kansas Sheriff's Deputies Shot Last Week
MANKATO, Kan. (AP) — A fund has been established to help two Jewell County sheriff deputies who were shot on duty last week. Authorities say the deputies were shot by a 40-year-old man who walked into the sheriff's office, asked to see a deputy and opened fire. The man, Jason Whitson of Mankato, later shot and killed himself after leading law enforcement on a chase into Ottawa County. A motive for the shooting has not been released. KSAL reports the Jewell County Sheriff's Office said both deputies will make a "long but full recovery." The agency says an account has been established to help cover the deputies' expenses. Donations can be sent to the State Exchange Bank in Mankato.
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2 Women Killed When SUV Crashes into Turning Car in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two women have been killed in a Wichita crash. The Wichita Eagle reports that the crash happened Tuesday afternoon as the women were turning left. Wichita police Officer Paul Cruz says the driver of a sport utility vehicle collided with passenger side of the women's car. The impact knocked the car off the road and onto nearby grass. Cruz says the 20-year-old female passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. The car's 21-year-old driver died at a hospital. Police don't know the relationship between the women. Their names were immediately released. Police say the driver of the SUV was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren't life threatening.
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Missouri Mother Sues Police over Son's Wrongful Arrest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman has filed a lawsuit alleging that police wrongfully arrested her teenage son in 2016 and were deliberately indifferent to his rights. The Kansas City Star reports that Sherri James is accusing Kansas City police of unlawful arrest, negligent training and supervision and deprivation of her son Tyree Bell's constitutional rights. The lawsuit says police were responding to a report of three black teenagers with a firearm when they arrested Bell. The lawsuit says the teen's appearance didn't completely match the suspect's description. Bell spent three weeks in the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center. The lawsuit says police had dash cam footage that would've exonerated Bell, but authorities didn't immediately view the video. A department spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation. A court filing responding to the suit denies the allegations.
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Man Arrested After Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a 34-year-old man was driving drunk with a suspended license in Wichita when he ran a red light and hit another vehicle, killing the driver. The suspect was arrested and jailed Monday hours after 56-year-old Marsha Oglesby of Wichita was killed in the crash. Officer Charley Davidson says Oglesby died at a Wichita hospital about an hour after the collision. The driver fled from the scene but was arrested with the help of citizens in the area.
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Lawsuit: Urgent Care Doctor Responsible for Leg Amputation
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City area man has filed a lawsuit alleging that a trip to an urgent care clinic for a foot wound led to gangrene and a leg amputation. The Kansas City Star reports that Trenton Twidwell filed the lawsuit last month against Kristin Duncan, the doctor he saw at the CareNow urgent care clinic in Overland Park. The lawsuit alleges that Duncan diagnosed Twidwell with a common infection called cellulitis in August 2017. The lawsuit alleges Duncan prescribed ineffective antibiotics, never cultured the wound and didn't order any lab work. The suit says Twidwell developed gangrene and sepsis just weeks later, leading to a below-knee amputation. The newspaper was unable to reach Duncan for comment. A CareNow employee says she no longer works there.
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Andover Man Dies in Hospital After Fire at Home
ANDOVER, Kan. (AP) — Fire officials say a 65-year-old man who was pulled from a house fire in Andover has died. Andover Fire and Rescue Chief Chad Russell said in a news release the man was rescued from a home in Andover Tuesday night but died Wednesday. Another person inside the home was able to escape. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Russell says the fire destroyed the house, which is considered a total loss. No firefighters were injured during the rescue.
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Pittsburg Man Sentenced to Life for 2 Linn County Murders
MOUND CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 33-year-old Pittsburg man was sentenced to life in prison for the 2016 killings of two family members. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said David Patrick McNabb was sentenced Wednesday to life with no chance of parole for 100 years. McNabb pleaded no contest in April to two counts of first-degree premeditated murder for the deaths of his uncle, Kenneth McNabb, and grandmother, Betty McNabb. He also pleaded no contest to felony theft and interference with law enforcement. The victims were reported missing from rural Pleasanton on November 11, 2016. Their bodies were found buried on rural property west of Pittsburg on November 15.
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