Kelly Revives 2017 Plan for Expanding Medicaid in Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has revived a plan for expanding Medicaid in Kansas that was vetoed by a Republican predecessor. Kelly released proposed legislation Tuesday that would expand state health coverage for the needy to another 150,000 people starting in January 2020. Expanding Medicaid is a top priority for Kelly after she made it a key issue in her successful campaign last year. Kelly's plan is based on a Medicaid expansion bill passed by bipartisan legislative majorities in 2017. It was vetoed by then-Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and supporters were unable to override his action. Top Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature still oppose the idea, viewing it as potentially too costly. Kelly's proposed annual budget includes $14 million for the expansion, but GOP leaders think that's too little.
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Lawrence Police: No Foul Play Likely After 2 Bodies Found in Two Days
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence police are investigating the deaths of two people whose bodies were found in separate areas in two days. Officer Derrick Smith said Monday police do not suspect foul play in either death. No identities have been released. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Smith said a person out for a walk found the first body lying next to a wooden fence in Lawrence early Sunday. The woman was a 48-year-old Lawrence woman. A second body was found early Monday after a reported medical emergency. Smith said that person was a 24-year-old Lawrence man. Smith said he did not have additional information to release about either incident.
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Wind Topples Power Lines, Overturns at Least 1 Vehicle
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say wind gusts have toppled power lines and overturned at least one vehicle in northeast Kansas. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the National Weather Service has issued a wind chill watch from Tuesday evening through Wednesday morning for an area that included Topeka, where it predicted wind chill index readings would be between minus 10 degrees and minus 25 degrees. The Kansas Highway Patrol says a tractor-trailer "flipped" Monday on the Kansas Turnpike about 1 mile east of Lawrence as gusts of up to 56 mph were reported. Also Monday, downed lines left more than 2,600 Westar Energy customers without power, although only a handful remained in the dark by Tuesday.
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Man with Airsoft Gun Shot, Killed by Kansas Sheriff's Deputy
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man who was fatally shot by a Kansas sheriff's deputy had brandished an airsoft gun that resembles an actual firearm but shoots only nonlethal plastic pellets. Sedgwick County sheriff's Capt. Greg Pollock says the shooting happened Monday after deputies received a tip that a man with a felony drug warrant was going to be at a storage unit south of Wichita. The man was identified Tuesday as 55-year-old David Michael Bosiljevac, of Wichita. Pollock says Bosiljevac ignored commands to stop and pointed what appeared to be a pistol at a deputy. Pollock says the deputy fired several rounds because he feared for his life and the life of the other deputy. Bosiljevac died at the scene. An airsoft gun was recovered next to the suspect.
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Twice-Convicted Rapist Arrested Again in Topeka
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A twice convicted Kansas rapist who has spent more than half his life in prison has been arrested in another sexual assault. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Shawnee County Jail records show that 58-year-old Billy Jack Hayes was booked early Monday on suspicion of rape in one case and aggravated burglary and misdemeanor sexual battery in another case. No charges were immediately filed. Kansas Department of Corrections records show that Hayes has been in and out of prison for the past four decades. He has convictions for rapes and other crimes committed in 1974 and 1984 in Shawnee County. He was paroled most recently in September.
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GOP Lawmakers in Kansas Pushing Ahead with Tax Relief Plan
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas expect to push ahead this week with an income tax relief proposal. The move would defy Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's call for lawmakers to avoid adjusting state tax laws this year. A Senate committee is set to open hearings Tuesday on a bill aimed at preventing individuals and corporations from paying more to Kansas because of changes in federal income tax laws at the end of 2017. The panel could vote Thursday. Top Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature have made tax relief a priority and argue Kansas is receiving an unanticipated revenue "windfall." Kelly and other Democrats argue the state still doesn't know how big the windfall might be. Kelly's top priorities are boosting spending on public schools and expanding Medicaid health coverage for the needy.
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Kansas Senate Leader Sues Newspaper, Alleging Defamation
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Kansas City Star and one of its columnists. The lawsuit filed Monday in Johnson County District Court alleges that Steve Rose's column Saturday subjected Denning to public ridicule by falsely attributing multiple statements to him. The column criticized Denning's opposition to an expansion of the state's Medicaid health coverage. The lawsuit said Rose and Denning haven't spoken since August 2016. Denning is seeking more than $75,000 in damages. Rose said in an email to The Associated Press: "I have been writing columns for almost 50 years, and I don't make things up." Later Monday, KCUR public radio reported that Rose had resigned from the Star on Saturday. Star editors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Kansas Couple Arrested After Meth Found in Home with 3 Kids
LIBERAL, Kan. (AP) — A southwest Kansas couple was arrested and their three young children taken into protective custody after officers say they found methamphetamine in their home. Captain Robert Rogers of the Liberal police department said the children, who were 5, 3 and 1, were and taken to a hospital, where one of them tested positive for methamphetamine. KAKE-TV reports the 27-year-old mother reported Saturday that she had been in an argument with her 34-year-old husband, who had left the home. Rogers says officers believed the woman was under the influence and the children were not being care for. He says syringes and methamphetamine were within the children's reach. The man and woman were each charged with possession of meth and paraphernalia, aggravated child endangerment and child abuse. Rogers didn't release their names.
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Police: Smithville, Missouri, Teenager Dies in Accidental Shooting
SMITHVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Smithville police says the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy appears to be accidental. The name of the victim has not been released. Smithville Police Capt. Tony Roetman says officers called to a Smithville home late Friday found the teenager suffering from a gunshot wound. He died a short time later. The Kansas City Star reports Roetman says the teenager was visiting the home with several other people. He was handling a handgun when the weapon fired, hitting him. Others at the home administered first aid until police arrived. Roetman says the shooting was an unfortunate accident. No other details were released on Monday.
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6-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Hit by Car Weeks Ago
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 6-year-old Kansas City girl has died from injuries she suffered more than a month ago when she was hit by a vehicle. Kansas City police said 6-year-old Naveyah Hayes died Friday, 34 days after she was hit by a Kia Optima on Highway 40. Police say the girl was running across the highway when she was struck December 21. Police say the driver didn't see the girl before she was hit. The driver stopped, did not show any signs of impairment and cooperated with the investigation. The Kansas City Star reported the girl ran away from her foster home at least twice before she was injured.
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Former Kansas Trooper Sentenced in Wichita Gambling Probe
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A retired 53-year-old highway patrol trooper was sentenced to a year of probation for lying to the FBI during an investigation into illegal gambling in Wichita. Michael Frederiksen, of Derby, was convicted in May of making false statements to FBI investigators. Testing during the trial indicated that in 2014 Frederiksen was filmed participating in an illegal cash poker game while he was still a trooper. Prosecutors say during an interview by FBI agents investigating illegal gambling in Wichita, Frederiksen made false statements and downplayed his involvement in illegal poker and his relationship with the poker game's operator. An FBI affidavit in the case says investigators began looking into an illegal gambling business with ties to public corruption in Wichita in November 2011.
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Inmate Pleads Guilty to Attacking Inmate at Penitentiary
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A prison inmate has admitted to fracturing another inmate's skull with a metal pipe, leaving the man in a "semi-vegetative state" for several months. The Kansas City Star reports 49-year-old Jimmy Eastep Jr., pleaded guilty Monday to assault with a dangerous weapon. According to his plea agreement, Eastep assaulted 52-year-old Michael Seaman at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth in January 2016 after Seaman called him a name. Investigators found a 20-inch metal pipe with blood next to Seaman Seaman. Investigators say Seaman was not able to communicate with them for almost a year. Eastep was linked to the assault by DNA testing. The plea agreement calls for Eastep to be sentenced to another 3.5 years in prison.
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Ruling: Students' Free Speech, Free Press Lawsuit to Proceed
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A judge is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against a Kansas City school district accused of violating students' free speech and free press rights during a nationwide walkout protesting gun violence. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled Monday that the students have presented a plausible claim that the Shawnee Mission School District violated their First Amendment rights by stopping speakers from talking about gun control or gun violence. The walkout was sparked by last year's school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Robinson also found students have a plausible claim under the Kansas Student Publications Act after a school official confiscated a camera from a student journalist to prevent her from photographing the event for the student newspaper. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas sued on behalf of students.
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Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Deadly 2006 Fire in Topeka
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 43-year-old Topeka man who was once convicted of setting a fire that killed a 53-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty in a court-ordered retrial. WIBW-TV reports Frank Jerome Robinson entered the plea Monday to charges connected to a fire that destroyed an apartment house in 2006, killing 53-year-old Marvina Washington. He is charged with reckless second-degree murder and aggravated arson. A trial date was not scheduled. Robinson was convicted in 2009 of reckless second-degree murder and aggravated arson. He was sentenced to 36.5 years in prison. The Kansas Court of Appeals ruled in January that Robinson should receive a new trial because his attorney at the original trial didn't provide an adequate defense.
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2019 William Allen White Award Goes to AP's Sally Buzbee
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Sally Buzbee, the executive editor of The Associated Press, is this year's recipient of the William Allen White Foundation award, which recognizes individuals for outstanding journalistic service. The foundation announced Tuesday that Buzbee, a Kansas native and 1988 graduate of the University of Kansas journalism school, will receive the award April 11 in Lawrence, Kansas. Buzbee became the news agency's executive editor in January 2017. Her AP career began in 1988 as a reporter in Topeka. Other assignments included correspondent in San Diego, assistant chief of bureau in the Washington bureau, AP's Middle East editor and deputy managing editor of the AP's Nerve Center in New York. She became Washington bureau chief in 2010. During her tenure, the bureau's investigative team won a Pulitzer Prize. The William Allen White Foundation is a complement to the University of Kansas's William Allen White School of Journalism designed to promote excellence in journalism.
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Chiefs Plan $10 Million in Renovations to Arrowhead Stadium
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are planning more than $10 million in upgrades to Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs announced Monday that the renovations will include a "modernization" of the Arrowvision scoreboard, along with waterproofing and new seats — with cup holders — in the stadium's upper deck. Chiefs President Mark Donovan said in a news release that the last stadium renovation was completed a decade ago. The team said the scoreboard will remain the same size but will have new LED panels to improve clarity. The work could begin next week. The Kansas City Star reports the Chiefs are paying for the work but can ask in the future to be reimbursed by the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority. The Chiefs also announced Tuesday that the team's training camp will be at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph again this year.
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