Expected Costs of New Kansas City Airport Lowered
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Developers of a new single-terminal airport in Kansas City say the project will be completed for less than originally expected. Airline and city aviation officials said Thursday the airport will be built for $1.5 billion, rather than $1.64 billion. The Kansas City Star reports that news came a day after six of the eight airlines reached a long-awaited agreement on what they could spend to build the terminal. After years of debate, voters in November 2017 overwhelmingly approved replacing the three-terminal Kansas City International Airport with a single-terminal airport. The city has said no taxpayer money will be used on the project, and airlines will be responsible for cost overruns. The project had been delayed while officials waited for the airlines to reach consensus on their costs for the terminal.
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Nursing Home Worker Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Resident
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 51-year-old former Olathe nursing home employee pleaded guilty to stealing jewelry from a resident suffering from dementia. Tonette Raylene Ealy, of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor count of mistreatment of a dependent adult. She also was ordered to pay restitution to the victim. The Kansas City Star reports as a part of the plea deal, a second count was dismissed. Ealy was placed on probation for one year. She will serve 30 days as a condition of the probation. She was charged last year with stealing jewelry worth less than $1,500 from two patients and selling the items at a pawn shop.
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No Charges for Lawrence Student after Rifle Found in Car
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Free State High School student who left a hunting gun in his car in the school parking lot will not face charges. The Douglas County District Attorney's Office said Friday no charges would be filed because the student didn't intend to commit a crime. Trial assistant Dorothy Kliem said the investigation found the student forgot the weapon was in his vehicle after a hunting trip. The unloaded gun was discovered under the seat of the student's vehicle in September. The Lawrence Journal-World reports district officials said the weapon never left the vehicle. Meanwhile, a Lawrence High School student was charged as a juvenile Friday with misdemeanor criminal use of weapons after he allegedly brought a gun to school on Wednesday. Police say the weapon was found in his backpack.
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Sex Abuse Case Not Only Time Kansas Judge Has Been Lenient
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge who blamed two teenage girls for a sexual encounter with a 67-year-old man has spent a decade on the bench overseeing mostly sealed juvenile and child-in-need-of-care cases behind closed doors. Since Leavenworth County Judge Michael Gibbens took over the criminal docket for a retiring district judge last summer his rulings have drawn more scrutiny and criticism. In a widely panned decision in December, the judge eased a man's sentence after saying the sex abuse victims, ages 13 and 14, were "more an aggressor than a participant." Court documents reviewed by The Associated Press show it's not the first time Gibbens substantially departed from Kansas sentencing guidelines in handing down lenient punishments. In one case he gave probation for battery of a police officer.
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Koch Family Not Pressing Charges over Gate-Crashing
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The family of conservative billionaire Charles Koch isn't pushing for property damage charges against a man who's accused of driving through the private gate of a home. The Wichita Eagle reports that 40-year-old Aron James White is charged with ramming an officer's patrol car last month. The collision injured an officer and passenger. But court records show that the residents requested that no charges be filed for damage to their property. Police at the crime scene said White also rammed a private security vehicle before driving through a security gate. Authorities hadn't publicly identified the Kochs as victims in the case, but records show that Chase Koch, the son of Charles Koch, lives at the address listed in police reports. Koch Industries spokesman Rob Carlton declined a request for comment.
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Kansas Democrats Attack GOP Tax Plan as Corporate Give-away
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's fellow Democrats are attacking a Republican tax relief plan approved by the state Senate as a give-away to large corporations. The vote in Thursday in the GOP-dominated Senate was 26-14. GOP leaders have acknowledged that big businesses would benefit but see that as helping the economy. The bill goes next to the Republican-controlled House. It is designed to prevent Kansas residents and businesses from paying higher state income taxes because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017. Most of the relief would go to businesses in the first year. Many Republicans expect Kelly to veto it. GOP leaders fell one vote short of a two-thirds majority in the Senate necessary to override a veto when two moderate Republicans voted no.
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20 Larned Inmates Charged in November Prison Riot
LARNED, Kan. (AP) — Twenty inmates at the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility face felony charges after a riot at the prison in November. Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett charged the inmates after a state prison official completed an investigation of the Nov. 6 uprising. McNett said in a news release Wednesday the 20 inmates were primarily responsible for the riots. He says he saw no evidence that inmates breached individual housing units in the prison's Central Unit, and his office is treating the case as four self-contained riots occurring at the same time. State prison officials say Kansas spent $113,000 to repair damage and replace equipment. The Hutchinson News reports the inmates are charged with incitement to riot, criminal damage to property and rioting. The riot was one of several at Kansas prisons in 2017 and 2018.
