Interstate 70 Reopens in Western Kansas as Storm Moves East
GOODLAND, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Transportation says Interstate 70 has reopened from Colby to the Colorado border after a storm that included snow, ice and high winds moved into central and eastern Kansas. A section of the interstate between Junction City and Chapman remained closed Tuesday afternoon because of icy conditions and numerous accidents. As the storm moved east, many Kansas schools closed early and organizations canceled their events as roads became slippery across much of the state. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly sent all non-essential state employees home about 2 p.m. Tuesday. The National Weather Service says snow accumulations of 1 to 5 inches are possible, with ice and winds gusting up to 50 mph. The storm was expected to move into Missouri Tuesday evening.
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Parts of Interstate 70 Closed in Western Kansas
GOODLAND, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Transportation says Interstate 70 from Colby to the Colorado border is closed because of winter weather conditions. The interstate was closed Tuesday as a storm carrying snow and high winds moved from Colorado into Kansas. A section of the interstate between Junction City and Chapman also was closed because of icy conditions and numerous accidents. As the storm moved east, many Kansas schools closed early and canceled events, and roads were becoming slippery across much of the state. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly sent all non-essential state employees home about 2 p.m. The National Weather Service says snow accumulations of 1 to 5 inches are possible, with ice and winds gusting up to 50 mph. The storm was expected to continue moving east into Missouri Tuesday evening.
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Patrol: Hays Woman Dies in Crash on Icy Interstate 70
GOODLAND, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Highway Patrol says a 19-year-old woman has died in a crash on an ice-covered section of Interstate 70. The patrol says Ashlen Leigh Lemon, of Hays, died Tuesday afternoon in the one-vehicle crash in Geary County. The patrol says she lost control because of icy road conditions, hit the median and struck a guardrail. A storm carrying ice, snow and high winds moved east across Kansas on Tuesday, prompting school closings and cancellations of several events. Gov. Laura Kelly sent all non-essential state employees home Tuesday afternoon because of the conditions. Interstate 70 was closed between Colby and the Colorado border for several hours but was reopened Tuesday afternoon. A section of the interstate between Junction City and Chapman remained closed because of icy conditions and numerous accidents.
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Abortion Foes Vow to Pursue Change in Kansas Constitution
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Anti-abortion leaders are promising to pursue a change in the Kansas Constitution if the state's highest court rules that the document protects abortion rights. Several hundred abortion opponents rallied Tuesday inside the Statehouse. They marked the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that legalized abortion across the nation. But anti-abortion leaders also had another pending court case on their minds. The Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments nearly two years ago from attorneys on whether the state constitution protects abortion rights. The justices have not ruled. If they declare that the state constitution protects abortion rights, state courts might invalidate restrictions in Kansas that would be upheld by the federal courts. Anti-abortion leaders said they would respond by pursuing a state constitutional amendment.
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Kansas Secretary of State Could Lose Election Crimes Authority
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Committees in the Kansas House are considering two bills that would repeal the secretary of state's authority to prosecute election crimes, which was established after a long political fight by former Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach had argued that his office should be able to prosecute election crimes to stop what he contended was widespread fraudulent voting by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He was given authority over election fraud in 2015 . In 3½ years, Kobach prosecuted 10 to 15 cases of voter fraud. None of the defendants were immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, said Katie Koupal, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office. Two were immigrants who had legal permission to live in the U.S. but who were not eligible to vote. The others were U.S. citizens who voted in two states, usually because they had land in several states. Kobach, who fashioned a national reputation as a fighter against illegal immigration and voting fraud, left the secretary of state's office to launch an unsuccessful bid for governor, losing to Democrat Laura Kelly in November. Attorney General Derek Schmidt says Scott Schwab, who replaced Kobach as secretary of state, wants to return to the office's traditional responsibilities of registering businesses and administering elections, which would return prosecution of voting crimes to state and county prosecutors, The Wichita Eagle reported.
"The current secretary has told me he doesn't want that authority, doesn't have criminal prosecutors on his staff, and (since 2015) we've created our fraud/abuse litigation division at the AG's office," Schmidt said.
The House Judiciary Committee is considering a bill introduced by Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, and the House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice is considering a slightly different version requested by Schmidt last week. Carmichael said the secretary of state office should not prosecute voter fraud because it creates a conflict of interest.
"The secretary of state and his office are oftentimes the witnesses needed to prove the case," Carmichael said. "You can't prosecute the case and use your own employees as the witnesses, so it needs to be put back in the hands of professional prosecutors."
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New Rules Allows Breastfeeding in Kansas House
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Female lawmakers are now able to breastfeed in the Kansas House. The Kansas City Star reports lawmakers approved the breastfeeding provision Tuesday as part of a package or rules for the chamber. Rep. Ponka-We Victors, a Wichita Democrat who offered the rule change, says the House rules should be updated to reflect the makeup of the chamber's members. Rep. Susan Humphries, a Wichita Republican, said the breastfeeding on the House floor hadn't been an issue in the past even though House rules didn't take a stance on the issue. She questioned whether it was necessary to make a specific rule on the subject.
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Study: Kansas Strictest in Limiting Control of Food Policy
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A new study says Kansas goes farther than any other state in limiting state and local agencies from influencing policy about food nutrition labels and portion sizes. The Kansas News Service reports that New York University researcher Jennifer Pomeranz's recent study found that Kansas does more to limit the authority of local governments on food policy than any of the 13 other states with similar legislation. The state's 2016 pre-emption law prevents local authorities from restricting portion sizes, taxing soda and sugary drinks and banning "incentive items," such as toys in a McDonald's Happy Meal. Similar bills have been cropping up across the country, but Pomeranz says Kansas' law goes further than others by limiting the state Legislature's power. Pomeranz says Kansas basically handed over control of food policy issues to the federal government.
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Woman Sentenced to Life After Child Drowns in Kansas River
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 26-year-old Missouri woman who intentionally drove her car into the Kansas River with her two children inside has been sentenced to life in prison. KMBC-TV reports Scharron Dingledine, of Columbia, Missouri, was sentenced Tuesday for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors said she drove her car into the river near Lawrence in August . She and her 1-year-old son were rescued. The body of her 5-year-old daughter, Amiyah Bradley, was recovered the next day. Dingledine told police she drove into the river in an attempt to kill herself and her children. She said she knew neither child could swim and would likely die. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree charge, along nearly 13 years for the attempted murder charge.
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Police Body Cameras Coming to Lawrence by Summertime
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence police officials say all officers in the department should be wearing body cameras sometime this summer. The Lawrence Journal-World reports 10 officers, with support from four staff members, have been testing the cameras since November. Police Captain Trent McKinley said the department will evaluate the test results early next month and then select a camera vendor. The cameras are budgeted to cost $462,000. Half of the cost will be funded by a federal grant, and the city of Lawrence will match those funds. The city has also hired a technician to help with the body camera program. McKinley said the department is still working on policies governing the use of the cameras. McKinley said the cameras should be deployed this summer after staff is trained.
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Bitter Cold Freezes U.S. Regions Hit by Winter Storm
BOSTON (AP) — A winter storm that covered parts of the Midwest and Northeast in snow and sleet this weekend has manifested into a bitter freeze. The National Weather Service says temperatures across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic will drop 10 to 20 degrees below average Monday, with wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit hitting the Northeast. The weather created dangerously icy conditions that complicated cleanup efforts and made travel challenging on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service called the wind chills "life-threatening" in upstate New York.
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Some Lawrence Officials Frustrated by Delayed Energy Debate
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Several Lawrence officials and residents say they are frustrated that the City Commission didn't discuss an offer to power the city exclusively with wind energy before the option was no longer available. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that city staffers said last week that Westar Energy's offer was under review but officials hadn't determined whether the energy plan was worth pursuing. Westar approached some of its large-demand customers in July to purchase wind energy at a fixed rate for the next 20 years. The Missouri-based utility had 200 megawatts of wind power available. The energy reservations were offered on a first-come, first-served basis. All energy has since been allocated. City Manager Tom Markus says in hindsight he would have provided a report to the commission earlier.
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Wichita Police: 9-Year-Old Boy Dies in Accidental Shooting
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say a 9-year-old boy died in an accidental shooting at a mobile home park. Police spokesman Charley Davidson says five juveniles between the ages of 9 and 16 were at the home when the shooting occurred Monday morning. Davidson says investigators determined the 9-year-old old was visiting an 11-year-old friend who lived at the home. He says the two boys were able to open a gun safe in a bedroom and began playing with guns inside. Investigators believe the 11-year-old was playing with a gun when it discharged. Davidson says the investigation is continuing and the case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.
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Sentencing Delayed for Suspect in Deadly Kansas Hoax Call
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has delayed sentencing for a California man who admitted making a hoax call that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between two online gamers over a $1.50 bet in a Call of Duty WWII video game. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on Tuesday delayed until March 1 sentencing for Tyler R. Barriss . The government and defense had jointly requested more time to review objections to a presentence investigation report. The hearing had been scheduled for Jan. 30. Barriss has pleaded guilty to 51 federal charges, including making a false report resulting in a death, cyberstalking and conspiracy related to the deadly swatting case in Kansas. The plea deal is expected to send him to prison for at least 20 years.
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Woman Convicted of Severely Injuring 4-Month-Old Boy
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 27-year-old Olathe woman has been found guilty of injuring an infant boy so badly at her home day care that he was left blind and brain damaged. Paige Hatfield was found guilty Friday of aggravated battery in Johnson County District Court. The jury also granted a motion to allow the judge to impose a sentence above what is called for in state sentencing guidelines. Hatfield is scheduled to be sentenced March 28. The Kansas City Star reported the boy, Kingston Gilbert, was four months old when he was injured at the unlicensed day care in January 2017. Hatfield testified that she did not hurt the child.
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Kansas Humane Society Reports Setting New Records in 2018
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Humane Society says it set a record for the number of homes or placements it found for animals last year. The agency says it placed 11,204 animals and had a 94 percent save rate last year. KFDI reports the Humane Society said its save rate increased by 50 percent since it moved into its new facility in Wichita in 2009. The organization says 8,432 animals were adopted in 2018, and another 1,955 were transferred to rescue partners. Another 710 animals were reunited with their owners and 107 were transferred to partner shelters. The group also reported that it performed 2,281 donor-subsidized spay and neuter surgeries for animals last year. The agency also expanded its program to find placements for feral or semi-social cats.
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"Outsider" Kansas Congressman Steve Watkins Hiring Veteran GOP Insiders to Guide Him
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Representative Steve Watkins, who campaigned as an outsider, is turning to political insiders as he settles into the U.S. House. Watkins never held elected office before being elected in Kansas' 2nd Congressional District. He said it's important that he acknowledge he doesn't know everything and needs veteran political help. The Kansas City Star reports Watkins has surrounded himself with people who collectively have more than 30 years of congressional experience and deep ties to the Kansas Republican Party. Some Kansas Republicans expressed concerns about Watkins before the election, in part because his campaign was largely financed by his father. One critic, Jeff King, a former Kansas Senate vice president, says Republicans are noticing the effort Watkins is making to learn from people with more experience.
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Haskell University's Acting President Will Stay in Post Another 60 Days
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The acting president of Haskell Indian Nations University will continue in the job for two more months. The school in Lawrence said Friday that Daniel Wildcat, a longtime Haskell faculty member, will stay in that role until March 18. Wildcat took over temporary leadership Nov. 20, when the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education announced the current president, Venida Chenault, would be on special assignment for the BIE for up to 60 days. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Chenault's 60 days would have ended Monday. Friday's news release did not mention Chenault. Stephen Prue, executive assistant to the Haskell president, said the university would have no other comment. Chenault's leave was announced days after a report said university administrators underreported crime statistics and didn't follow policy on handling misconduct complaints.
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Lawrence Police Officer Pierced by Baton During Struggle
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence police say an officer was impaled on his baton while struggling with a suspect. Police Sgt. Amy Rhoads says the officer is hospitalized after the confrontation but didn't appear to have life-threatening injuries. Rhoads says officers responded to a car crash early Tuesday. She says the car's driver, a 22-year-old Topeka man, fled on foot when officers tried to arrest him. One officer caught him and used his expandable baton during a struggle. The officer fell to the ground and landed on his baton, which penetrated his body. Another officer arrested the driver after a short foot chase. He was booked into jail on suspicion of driving under the influence, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and interference with the duties of a law enforcement officer.
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Ex-Soldier Sentenced for Sexually Abusing 5-Year-Old Girl
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A 40-year-old man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing a 5-year-old and 18-year-old while he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood. Craig Ralston was sentenced Tuesday for sex crimes involving the 5-year-old girl in 2003 and the 18-year-old in 2008. The Springfield News-Leader reports he met both victims while attending church in St. Robert. Prosecutors said Ralston's history of abusing children began when he was 13 years old. He was previously convicted of taking indecent liberties with a 12-year-old child in Kansas in 2009. Ralston apologized before his sentencing for the crimes and for being a bad husband. Prosecutors had asked that Ralston be sentenced to life in prison. Ralston was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release after his incarceration.
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Man Sentenced for Suffocating Infant Son After Drinking
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 34-year-old man who authorities say suffocated his 2-month-old twin son by rolling over on him while they slept has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison. The Wichita Eagle reports Kyle Kempton was sentenced Tuesday to 32 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter and four misdemeanor counts of endangering a child. Police say Kempton and his wife, Christy Rollings, had been drinking for a week before their son, Patrick Kempton, died in a Wichita motel in August. The other twin was not injured. Rollings was charged with the same crimes and sentenced to probation for manslaughter and two years for the endangerment charges. Officers removed the twins from the parents two days before boy died at the Scotsman Inn, but a family member returned the children to them.
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Project Looks into How Drones Can Predict Spread of Wildfire
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A University of Missouri researcher is teaming up with scholars in Kansas and Georgia to develop drone technology to monitor and potentially predict the spread of wildfires. The Columbia Missourian reports that the $1.2 million research project that began last month aims to use unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, to collect real-time data and send the information to firefighters to help contain wildfires. University of Missouri professor Ming Xin says the drones follow a simulation that can precisely predict where a fire will spread for the next 10 to 30 minutes. He's working with University of Kansas professor Haiyang Chao and Georgia State University professor Xiaolin Hu. Nearly 56,000 wildfires burning across the U.S. last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation are sponsoring the project.
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Photographer Leighton Mark, Shot in Beirut in 1984, Has Died
WASHINGTON (AP) — Leighton Mark, a photojournalist who taught himself to make pictures with one arm after he was wounded in 1984 while covering the civil war in Lebanon, has died. He was 67. Mark died Saturday at Lexington Park Assisted Living Health Center in Topeka, Kansas, said a cousin, Monette Mark. Mark worked for United Press International and The Associated Press during a long career that was nearly cut short when he was 32. He had been in Beirut for UPI just three months when, in March 1984, gunfire from street fighting awoke him in his west Beirut apartment. After he stepped onto his balcony and began making pictures, a Druze militiaman sprayed him with automatic rifle fire. His shoulder bleeding, he managed to get into the hallway and find help.
"I remember seeing the AK go up, ducking — too slowly — screaming my head off in terror and bouncing off the wall," he said in recounting the moment for a UPI story in 1987. "I almost came back in a body bag."
UPI reported at the time that the militiaman who fired may have mistaken Mark's camera for a weapon. The Druze militiamen allowed him to be taken to the American Hospital in Beirut. After surgery he was flown by U.S. Marine helicopter to a ship and eventually was transferred to the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. After a year of recuperation, Mark sought a way to continue his career. He told UPI that a former camera repairman for National Geographic had modified Mark's equipment to accommodate one-handed shooting. Mark said he would hold the camera in the palm of his left hand and release the shutter with his little finger.
"I can pretty much do the same things I did before," he told UPI. "I just do them a little differently than other shooters."
UPI assigned Mark to its Washington bureau. Mark later left UPI for The Associated Press, where he worked as a photo editor in the Washington bureau from 1997 until his retirement in October 2016.
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Dedric Lawson's Double-Double Lifts No. 9 KU Past No. 24 Iowa State
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas spent most of the first half Monday night chasing Iowa State all over the court, unable to keep up with the Cyclones' crisp ball movement and their resulting open shots. Jayhawks coach Bill Self made a subtle tweak that changed everything. Kansas began switching five on defense, and the stops fueled a 14-0 second-half charge that gave Self's team the lead. And unlike last weekend at West Virginia, the ninth-ranked Jayhawks made it stick down the stretch, holding on for an 80-76 victory over the No. 24 Cyclones. "We buckled down," the Jayhawks' Devon Dotson said. "We really wanted to get that win." Dedric Lawson led the way for Kansas (16-3, 5-2 Big 12) with 29 points and 15 rebounds. Marcus Garrett added 16 points, Lagerald Vick had 14 and Dotson finished with 10, including the clinching free throws with 5.9 seconds left that effectively put the game away. "They move the ball so well," Garrett said, "and it went from corner to corner and we couldn't guard it. Then we made the switch and we were able to contain." Iowa State (14-5, 4-3) still got within 72-71 on a driving layup by Marial Shayok with 1:44 to go, but Garrett followed a swap of empty possessions with a layup. Michael Jacobson hit a free throw for the Cyclones, but Lawson's 3 from the top of the key made it 77-72 with 22.3 seconds left.
TITLE REUNION
Four members of the Jayhawks' 2008 national championship team were seated behind the Kansas bench in an impromptu reunion: Sasha Kaun, Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins and Brandon Rush. All of them but Kaun have their names hanging in the rafters of the Phog.
UP NEXT
Iowa State visits Mississippi on Saturday in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
Kansas travels to Rupp Arena on Saturday to play No. 8 Kentucky.
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