Kansas Governor Issues Emergency Declaration; Grassland Fire Danger is High
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has issued a state of disaster emergency declaration due to the potential risk of wildland fires through March 7. “In recent years, we have seen the devastation wildland fires can cause across the state," Kelly said. "They destroy crops and grazing land, and may threaten homes and lives. This declaration will allow the state to use whatever resources we have available to mitigate the risks and respond to fires, should they occur, in support of local emergency responders.” Officials say the majority of the state is at some risk of fire danger -- either Enhanced, Significant or Critical -- as conditions across the state are dry with low relative humidity, strong southerly winds and an abundance of fuel for fires in the form of dry grass and other flammable vegetation. The State Emergency Operations Center in Topeka will be activated to a partial state of readiness (Level 2) through Saturday night to monitor conditions in central and eastern Kansas. The Kansas National Guard will be placed on alert, if needed, for aerial fire suppression support with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.
It only takes one spark to touch off a wildland fire, so Kansans are urged to use care when burning outside, including fires in outdoor grills, and to make sure all smoking materials are completely extinguished before discarding them. Contact your local county emergency manager to see if there is a burn ban in your area.
(– additional reporting –)
Gov. Kelly Issues Disaster Declaration over Fire Risk
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has issued a disaster emergency declaration because of the risk of wildfires. Kelly signed the declaration Thursday and it is in effect through Saturday. The risk of fire is high because much of the state is dry with low humidity, strong winds and an abundance of dry vegetation. Kansans are being urged to be careful when burning outside, including using grills, and to completely extinguish burning materials before discarding them. Kelly said the declaration will allow the state to use whatever resources are needed to help local emergency responders if fires break out.
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Kansas Governor, Health Officials Prepare for Potential Outbreak of Coronavirus
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas health department's top administrator says health officials are monitoring up to a dozen people a day for the possibility that they have the new coronavirus. Secretary Lee Norman also said Wednesday that the Department of Health and Environment now can do its own testing. Norman held a news conference with Governor Laura Kelly a day after the department launched an online resource center to disseminate information about coronavirus. A legislative committee also approved an increase Wednesday in state aid to local health departments. Kansas has had no confirmed cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, but Norman said a positive test in inevitable.
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Amid Opioid, Vaping Suits, Kansas Looks to Curb Local Action
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Business groups and Kansas's Republican attorney general are pushing for a state law that could prevent cities, counties and local school districts from suing big corporations such as opioid and vaping products manufacturers. The proposal would give Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office oversight of local officials' decisions to hire outside attorneys, and it's modeled after a law Texas enacted last year. Supporters say they're trying to make it easier to reach broad, nationwide settlements of legal issues, and prevent what an arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls a “shakedown.” Critics say the measure would allow big corporations to escape accountability for their misconduct.
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Senators Urge Changes to Reduce Missouri River Flooding
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican senators from four states that have seen severe flooding from the Missouri River are backing legislation that would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to change its management of the river to reduce flood risk. The proposal would require the Corps to take steps to reduce flood risks along the lower Missouri River by changing the way it manages the dams and by strengthening levees along the river. The proposal is backed by all the senators from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Corps officials say flood protection remains their highest priority.
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KU Investigating Massage Therapist for Female Athletes
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas officials say a Lawrence man recently charged with a child sex crime had provided massage services to some women's athletic teams since 2015. The therapist, 48-year-old Shawn O'Brien, was an independent contractor who operated Medissage in Lawrence. O'Brien was charged recently in Douglas County with aggravated indecent liberties with a child in incidents from seven or eight years ago. Chancellor Doug Girard and Athletic Director Jeff Long said in a statement Thursday they were “deeply troubled” by an internal inquiry into the situation. They said the school is providing support to student-athletes, parents and staff who might have been impacted by the therapist’s association with the university.
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6 Arrested, 1 Sought in Multi-County Kansas Drug Bust
GREAT BEND, Kan. (KAKE-TV) — Central Kansas law enforcement authorities arrested six people and are searching for a seventh after an investigation into a multi-county methamphetamine ring. Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said seven warrants were issued Wednesday in Barton, Stafford and Pawnee counties. He said officers developed information from several sources including an inmate who was allegedly running drug deals on a recorded line in the Barton County jail. KAKE-TV reports officers found large amounts of cash, methamphetamine, drug processing materials and firearms. Three preschool-aged children were taken into protective custody at one location. Five of the warrants were served in Great Bend, with one in St. John and one in rural Larned.
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Missouri Man Sentenced for Planning Terrorism Attack Against Kansas City
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP / KPR) — A 28-year-old Missouri man who admitted plotting a terrorist attack in Kansas City has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison. Robert Lorenzo Hester Jr., was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in September to providing material support or resources to terrorists. Hester, of Columbia, was charged in February 2017 with helping to plan an attack on buses, trains and a train station in Kansas City. Prosecutors said he thought he was working with ISIS terrorists but his contacts were actually undercover federal agents. Hester provided materials such as nails and duct tape that he believed would be used to create bombs.
In separate and unrelated cases in Kansas, two planned terrorist attacks were thwarted in much the same way. Attacks were planned against Fort Riley, near Junction City, and against McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita. In both cases, the men plotting the attacks thought they were working with ISIS terrorists. In reality, those ISIS contacts were actually undercover FBI agents. The suspects in both cases were convicted and sentenced to prison.
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Topeka Woman Charged in Fatal Weekend Shooting
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 47-year-old Topeka woman is charged with second-degree murder in an apparent domestic dispute over the weekend. Raishawn Smith-Parker was charged Wednesday in the death of 51-year-old Kelly Parker. Smith-Parker is being held in Shawnee County jail on $500,000 bond. Police were called to a home Saturday and found Parker in an upstairs bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. Smith-Parker is scheduled to appear in court on March 12.
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Judge Allows Lawsuit by Wrongly Convicted Man to Continue
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled a Kansas man whose murder conviction was vacated after he spent 23 years in prison can proceed with key claims in his lawsuit against a police officer and others. After Lamonte McIntyre's conviction for a double murder was vacated in 2017, he sued the Unified Government of Wyandotte County / Kansas City, Kansas, and police officers involved in the investigation. This week, federal judge Kathryn Vratil rejected a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. McIntyre and his mother allege Kansas City, Kansas, police conducted a sloppy investigation and he was framed because his mother refused one officer's sexual demands.
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Laptops, iPads and Sports Uniforms Taken from Topeka School
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW-TV) — A private Topeka school is closed for one day after thieves stole laptops, iPads and sports uniforms and damaged at least 10 rooms. Topeka police are investigating the burglary early Thursday at Topeka Lutheran School. Staff discovered the break-in when they arrived for work. WIBW reports police say more than 20 laptops, Chromebooks, iPads, food, cash, uniforms and other items were taken. The school cancelled classes Thursday to allow teachers and staff to clean up the damage.
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Correction: School Resource Officer-Sex Crimes Story
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (The Kansas City Star) — In a March 5 story about a former Kansas City, Kansas, school resource officer, The Associated Press, based on information from The Kansas City Star, erroneously reported that Michael Eugene English Sr. pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with children between the ages of 14 and 16. English pleaded no contest to the charges. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
(–original report–)
Ex-School Resource Officer Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Crimes
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (The Kansas City Star) — A former Kansas City, Kansas, school resource officer will be sentenced in May for committing sex crimes against children. Michael Eugene English Sr. pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with children between the ages of 14 and 16. The Kansas City Star reports English was a school system security guard before joining the Kansas City, Kansas, School District's independent police unit in 2015. Authorities say the crimes began in January 2018. An investigation began in March of that year when a parent notified police. English faces a maximum of just over 14 years in prison. He will be sentenced May 8.
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Man Charged with Running Kansas Drug Ring from Oklahoma Prison Cell
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man serving a 90-year sentence for participating in the 1993 murder of a Kansas corrections officer is charged in a 55-count federal indictment with running a drug ring from his Oklahoma prison cell. The U.S. attorney's office said.in a news release Wednesday that 47-year-old Travis Knighten was the brains behind a criminal organization that distributed methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine powder, crack cocaine and marijuana in Wichita. No attorney is listed for Knighten in online court records. Knighten, who is incarcerated at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, is serving a 90-year sentence for killing Officer Mark Avery in March 1993 during a fight in the Lansing Correctional Facility.
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Wichita Man Sentenced for Stealing $800,000 from Retired Widow
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A retired financial adviser who took more than $800,000 from a retired widow has been sentenced to three years and two months in prison. Seventy-three-year-old Walter Hollis, of Wichita, was sentenced Tuesday for one count of felony theft. Prosecutors say he embezzled the money from a 75-year-old widow between 2014 and 2018 after she had been his client for several years. Hollis took the money from two trust funds. He was ordered to pay $822,322 in restitution. The woman testified Tuesday that Hollis destroyed her sense of security and denied her descendants their inheritance. Hollis blamed his crime on a gambling addiction and a difficult upbringing.
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U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Ruling by Kansas High Court in Case of Immigrants Using Fake IDs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is making it easier for states to prosecute immigrants who use fake Social Security numbers to get a job. The issue for the court was whether states could pursue the immigrants in court or had to leave those choices to the federal government, which typically has authority over immigration. The court ruled 5-4 Tuesday, with conservatives in the majority, that nothing in federal immigration law prevents states from going after immigrants who use phony identification. It reversed a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that the federal government has exclusive authority to determine whether an immigrant may work in the United States.
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Kansas Man Who Created Nonprofit Sentenced for Bank Fraud
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man who admitted to creating a nonprofit, depositing fake checks and then withdrawing $2,000 in real money has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. The Wichita Eagle reports that 29-year-old Nyron Bowen also was ordered Tuesday to pay restitution. He previously pleading guilty to bank fraud. In his guilty plea, Bowen admitted to depositing the forged checks into an account at Emprise Bank for a non-profit corporation he created called Kids On Safe Streets. He got the cash from ATM withdrawals, causing a financial loss for the bank.
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University of Kansas Settles Age Discrimination Lawsuit
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has settled an age discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of a former employee who said he was ousted in retaliation for raising the alarm that his department was told to fill job openings with mainly young people. KCUR-FM reports that under a consent decree last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the school pledged to not discriminate against employees or applicants based on age and to give the former worker, Jeffrey Thomas, $144,000 in back pay and damages.
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Former Husker Lineman Grabs No. 2 Seed at NAIA Wrestling Tournament
SEWARD, Neb. (AP) — Former University of Nebraska starting offensive lineman Tanner Farmer is now excelling at a different sport at a different school. Farmer discovered he had one semester of eligibility in a sport other than football under National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics rules. He already was enrolled in graduate courses and working as a volunteer football assistant at Concordia University. So he joined the wrestling team. He's 22-0 and the No. 2 seed in the NAIA national tournament scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Park City, Kansas. Farmer won two state titles in Illinois when he was in high school but didn't expect so much success at Concordia.
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KPR's daily headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. KPR's weekend summary is usually published by 1 pm Saturdays and Sundays.
