Transportation Head Pushes Bridge Safety during KCK Visit
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg promoted federal spending on bridge safety during a visit to Kansas City, Kansas. Buttigieg's visit Friday came just hours after a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that injured ten people. The Kansas City Star reports that more than 1,000 Kansas bridges and 2,000 Missouri bridges are listed in poor condition. Kansas is set to receive $45 million for bridge repairs under the federal infrastructure bill; Missouri would receive almost $97 million.
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Independence Man Detained for Threatening President Biden
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - An Independence, Kansas, man faces two felony charges for allegedly threatening President Joe Biden. The Kansas City Star reports that Scott Merryman is accused of driving halfway across the country and telling authorities that he planned to kill the president. He was detained in Hagerstown, Maryland, after allegedly making several threatening telephone calls and Facebook posts.
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Britt Reid's DUI Trial Date Postponed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid's trial on a felony driving while intoxicated charge has been postponed until at least September. Reid's trial was scheduled for April but was rescheduled on Friday to September 26. Reid, the son of Chiefs Coach Andy Reid, was charged after a February 4, 2021, crash near Arrowhead Stadium that critically injured a 5-year-old girl. Reid pleaded not guilty in June. The trial was rescheduled after discussion during a brief hearing Friday concerning the availability of toxicology reports and some expert witnesses.
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Kansas Supreme Court Takes No Action against Former Judge
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court said Friday it would take no further action against a former county judge who shared nude photos of himself on an online dating site for swingers. The court accepted a disciplinary panel's ruling that Russell County Magistrate Judge Marty Clark violated standards of judicial conduct. But the justices said they would take no further action because Clark resigned from the bench in May. An investigator with the Kansas Commission on Judicial Conduct said in March that Clark sent photos to the Club Foreplay site, and also sent “salacious” texts to a woman discussing a possible sexual encounter in the judge’s chamber.
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KCK Lawmaker Charged with Traffic Violations, Not DUI
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A state legislator has been charged with two traffic violations over his late November arrest on Interstate 70 in northeast Kansas. But Democratic state Representative Aaron Coleman of Kansas City, Kansas, has not been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs even though the Kansas Highway Patrol initially listed that as the potential crime for his November 27th arrest near Lawrence. His attorney did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment. Coleman is scheduled to have the charges formally read to him and to present a plea April 15th in Douglas County. Meanwhile, Coleman faces a misdemeanor domestic battery charge in neighboring Johnson County over an October 30 fight with his younger brother.
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Judge Sides with Treasury in Tribes' COVID Relief Case
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with the Treasury Department in a case that challenged the distribution of coronavirus relief aid to Native American governments. Tribal governments had received $4.8 billion from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act based on federal population data. Three tribes in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Florida sued over the methodology, alleging they were shortchanged by millions of dollars. The Treasury Department ultimately revised the methodology and sent additional payments to some tribes. But two of them weren't satisfied with the amounts and continued their legal challenge. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Friday that the Treasury's methodology was reasonable.