Siemens Gamesa Lays Off Workers in Kansas, Iowa
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Siemens Gamesa says it is laying off workers at its plants in Hutchinson and in Fort Madison, Iowa. In Hutchinson, the company manufactures wind nacelles, which hold the generating components in a wind turbine. The Iowa plant manufactures wind turbine blades. The company told employees Wednesday that 69 jobs will be cut in Hutchinson and 121 in Fort Madison. In a news release, the company cited a mandated halt in production during deliberations in a patent infringement case as one reason for the job reductions. The other factor, the company said, is uncertainty about potential new climate change legislation in the U.S.
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GOP Undoes Veto of Kansas Redistricting Map; Court Challenge Expected
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas have overridden the Democratic governor’s veto of a redistricting plan that politically hurts the state’s only Democrat in Congress. Their action Wednesday likely plunges Kansas into a national legal brawl amid the contest for control of the U.S. House. The vote in the Kansas House was 85-37 to overturn Governor Laura Kelly’s veto. The new map splits the state’s side of the Kansas City area between two districts, making it harder for U.S. Representative Sharice Davids to win reelection. It also moves the liberal northeast Kansas enclave of Lawrence into a district with conservative central and western Kansas communities. Democrats expect to challenge the lines in court. ( Read more hereabout today's vote, or click here for more about Tuesday's Kansas Senate vote to override the veto.)
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Missouri Senate GOP Divided over Gerrymandering Attempts
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators remain at odds over a plan to redraw the state's eight U.S. House districts. The Senate quit Wednesday with no resolution after a third day of filibustering by conservative Republicans. But senators are scheduled to try again Thursday. Conservatives are fighting against a proposal backed by Republican legislative leaders that's projected to send six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House. The conservative caucus wants to reshape the districts to give the GOP a chance at winning seven seats. A proposed 7-1 map was defeated Monday night. But conservative stalwarts filibustered the entire day Tuesday and part of Wednesday.
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Kansas Legislature Approves $1 Billion-plus Offer of Breaks to Mystery Firm
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have signed off on the state’s largest-ever taxpayer-funded incentives to attract thousands of new jobs. They did so Wednesday even though most didn’t know the name of the company or what it plans to make. The measure also cuts the state’s corporate income taxes. The Kansas Senate voted 31-9 to approve a bill to create a new incentives program offering a single company hundreds of millions of dollars in breaks once this year and and another company a deal in 2023. The House approved it Tuesday, so it goes to Governor Laura Kelly. Her administration says it is pursuing a $4 billion project, but the secrecy rankles some lawmakers.
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Controversial COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Exemption Measures Advance in Kansas Senate
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Fellow conservative Republicans are rallying behind a Kansas physician-legislator being investigated by the state medical board. They did so Tuesday by advancing state Sen. Mark Steffen's measures to protect doctors pursuing potentially dangerous treatments for COVID-19 and to weaken state childhood vaccination requirements. Steffen is a member of the Senate's health committee and persuaded it to approve a requirement for pharmacists to fill prescriptions of the anti-worm medication ivermectin to treat COVID-19. He also persuaded the committee to add a proposal to make it easy for parents to claim religious exemptions from childhood immunization requirements. The bill goes next to the Senate. Steffen says he's under investigation for statements about COVID-19.
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Mulberry Wins 1st Round in Lawsuit over Natural Gas Prices
MULBERRY, Kan. (AP) — A judge has ruled that residents of a small city in southeast Kansas may continue a lawsuit against energy company BP disputing a sharp increase in natural gas prices during freezing weather last February. A Crawford County judge on Wednesday dismissed a motion by BP to end the lawsuit. An attorney for the city of Mulberry and its municipal gas customers says the ruling could make it possible for customers to sue any utility under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. Mulberry city government and four named residents allege the multinational oil and gas company gouged them by increasing natural gas prices more than 100 times the normal price during last February's freeze.
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Appeals Court Upholds Findings in Emporia State Lawsuit
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld findings in a long-running racial discrimination lawsuit against Emporia State University. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court finding that the university retaliated against Angelica Hale by not renewing her contract after she complained about racial discrimination during the 2014-2015 school year. But the court rejected Hale's request that she be awarded more back pay than she won in in 2020. Angelica Hale and her husband, Melvin Hale, who are Black, filed separate discrimination lawsuits in 2016. A jury dismissed Melvin Hale’s $10 million lawsuit against five school administrators in July 2019.
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Man Wanted in Colorado Double Homicide Arrested in Kansas
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A man wanted in a double homicide in suburban Denver has been arrested in central Kansas. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office in Colorado says on its Facebook page that 29-year-old Casey Devol, of Franktown, Colorado, was arrested Wednesday in Salina. Officials say he'll be held in the Saline County Jail until he can be extradited to Colorado. Police say Devol is suspected in the shooting deaths of a man and woman whose bodies were found in a Franktown home's garage early Tuesday morning. Investigators believe the pair were killed Monday night. Their names have not been released. Douglas County Sheriff's officials say Devol knew both victims, and surveillance video shows him at the home at the time of the killings.
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Man Admits Threatening Black Man with Harm in 'White Town'
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal authorities say a 27-year-old Kansas man pleaded guilty to threatening a Black man with a knife and telling him to get out of his “white town.” Colton Donner pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal hate crime. The U.S. Justice Department said Donner admitted that he saw the victim walking through a residential area in Paola on September 11, 2019. According to court documents, Donner got out of his car, threatened the man with a knife, yelled racial slurs and told him that Paola was a “white town.” Donner faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the civil rights crime.
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Missouri Man Convicted at 14 of Killing Mom Gets Parole
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who has insisted for more than 20 years that he was wrongly convicted as a teenager of killing his mother has been granted parole. The Kansas City Star reports that attorneys for 37-year-old Michael Politte confirmed Tuesday that he was given parole and is set to be released on April 23. Politte was 14 years old in 1998 when, according to his lawyers, he found the burning body of his mother, Rita Politte, on the floor of their home in the eastern Missouri town of Hopewell as he and a friend, who said they awoke to smoke, scrambled to escape. Polittes' attorneys say he was convicted on since-debunked science and that the investigation was biased.
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Leavenworth Man Pleads No Contest in Killing of 12-Year-Old
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for the shooting death last year of a 12-year-old boy outside a Leavenworth pharmacy. The Kansas City Star reports that 26-year-old Darvon Deshawn Thomas entered the plea Tuesday in Leavenworth County District Court, admitting to his role in the April death of 12-year-old Brian Henderson, of Kansas City, Missouri. Prosecutors say the boy was not the intended target, but simply in the backseat of a car with someone meeting Thomas to sell a gun when the deal went bad and someone with Thomas began shooting. Two teens allegedly with Thomas during the shooting are also standing trial. Thomas is set to be sentenced in March.
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Firefighters Battle Large Wildfire East of Hutchinson
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (Hutch News) - A large wildfire broke out a few miles east of Hutchinson Tuesday. Strong winds combined with low relative humidity resulted in the fire spreading south. Several homes in the area were temporarily evacuated as a precaution. The Hutchinson News reports that more than 100 firefighters and more than 30 fire units from four counties responded to the wind-whipped blaze and kept any homes from being lost. Officials suspect the fire was caused by embers from woodpiles that were burned over the weekend. A privately owned air tanker from Nickerson aided firefighters by attacking the blaze in areas that were difficult for them to access due to sandy soils and cedar trees. The area had been under a Red Flag Warning for high fire danger due to the powerful winds. ( Read more.)
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Environmental Problems Prompt Takeover of St. Joseph Business
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says a receiver will take over facilities in St. Joseph after years of non-compliance with environmental regulations. The EPA said in a news release Tuesday a federal judge appointed a receiver for 60 days to assess the facilities owned by of HPI Products Inc., St. Joe Properties LLC and William Garvey. The defendants operate six pesticide manufacturing properties in the St. Joseph area. The EPA says thousands of containers of hazardous and non-hazardous waste have been stored at the facilities. The defendants agreed in a 2011 settlement to clean up the sites but the EPA says they have not complied with the terms of the settlement.
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Former Haskell Student Journalist Settles Free Speech Lawsuit Against University Leaders
LAWRENCE, Kan. (LJW) - Former Haskell Indian Nations University student journalist Jared Nally has settled his lawsuit against leaders of the university — which will result in policy reform at Haskell that free-speech advocates are hailing as a victory. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit that focuses on protecting free speech on college campuses, backed Nally in his lawsuit and called the settlement a constitutional win. “HINU agreed to sweeping policy reforms that will protect the First Amendment rights of students … and safeguard the editorial independence of the award-winning student newspaper, The Indian Leader,” FIRE spokesperson Katie Kortepeter said Tuesday. Nally’s dispute with Haskell began in October 2020 when then-President Ronald Graham forbade Nally, former editor-in-chief of The Indian Leader, from engaging in routine newsgathering activities. Graham eventually rescinded the directive, but it was not until January 13, 2021, that Nally received an undated letter from Graham, taking back his directive and admitting that the university “took an incorrect approach” in issuing it. Nally, a senior at the time, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas a couple of months later, in March 2021, against the university and its president, as well as the Bureau of Indian Education and its director.
Graham was fired from Haskell in May 2021 following an internal investigation and criticism that he was stifling free speech rights of students and faculty. His dismissal came after he was the subject of a unanimous vote of no-confidence by Haskell’s Faculty Senate the month before. As for Nally, he is now living in Kansas City, Missouri, after having graduated last fall with a degree in Indigenous and American Indian Studies. ( Read more.)
(–AP version–)
Settlement Reached in Haskell University Free Speech Case
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Haskell Indian Nations University has settled a lawsuit over free speech rights for student journalists on its campus. The Lawrence Journal-World reports free-speech advocates consider the settlement reached this week with former student journalist Jared Nally an important win for constitutional rights. Nally sued in October 2020 when the school's president, Ronald Graham, issued a directive detailing what Nally could report and write while he was editor of the student newspaper. The directive was later withdrawn. The settlement includes an agreement by university leaders not to issue any directives similar to the one issued by Graham that relate to First Amendment rights.
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Judge Won't Readmit 4 Students Involved in Slavery Petition
RIVERSIDE, Mo. (AP) _ A federal judge has declined to lift the expulsion or suspensions handed out to four suburban Kansas City high school students who were disciplined for their involvement in an online petition to "start slavery again.'' Radio station KCUR reports that U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough ruled Tuesday that the four Park Hill South High School students' lawsuit was unlikely to succeed on its merits if it went to trial. The ninth-graders sued, saying the petition was a joke started when one of them was bantering with a Black student. One was expelled and the other three each were suspended for 180 days. Their lawyer said he hasn't decided yet whether to appeal.
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Wichita State, KU Split $11 Million Scholarship Gift
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita State University and the University of Kansas will split an $11 million gift from a former Wichita resident. Both schools will receive $5.5 million to provide full-ride scholarships through a bequest from the estate of Richard “Dick” Smith, who graduated from the University of Kansas and lived in Wichita for years. Smith, who died in January 2021, founded the Range Oil company in Wichita in 1964. At Wichita State, undergraduates in any field of study will be eligible for the scholarships. At KU, the money will be divided between general scholarships and scholarships for students studying geology.
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Man Sentenced in Vicious Stabbing Death in Leavenworth
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A 38-year-old man has been sentenced in the death of a Leavenworth man who was stabbed more than 25 times. Jeffery Samulczyk was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years. He pleaded guilty in January to felony murder in the death of Joshua Gilson, whose body was found wrapped in plastic in the basement of his Leavenworth home in October 2020. Investigators found text messages between Samulczyk and Gilson’s wife discussing the murder and how to cover it up. Gilson’s wife, Alexandra, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year and was also sentenced to life in prison.
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Missouri High Court: Referendum Laws Hinder Voters' Rights
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court says the people's right to weigh in on laws passed by the Legislature has been illegally limited. Supreme Court judges on Tuesday ruled that laws regulating the referendum process are unconstitutional. The case stems from a Missouri law banning most abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. Critics of the law tried to put it to a public vote in 2019 in hopes of overturning it. But they say they ran out of time because of a delay with the Secretary of State's Office. A Cole County judge had ruled the referendum regulations are unconstitutional. Supreme Court judges agree.
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Shawnee County Sheriff: Man Shot in Topeka After Driving Vehicle Toward Deputy
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill says a deputy shot and killed a man in Topeka as the suspect drove his vehicle toward the deputy. The man, 38-year-old Jason D. Ickler, was killed Sunday. Hill said in a news release that deputies went to a Topeka Quality Inn to arrest Ickler on fleeing and other charges from an incident that happened Friday. Ickler jumped out of a window at the hotel and got into a car. Hill says when a deputy approached, Ickler accelerated the vehicle toward the deputy, who fired. Ickler died at the scene. The deputy's name has not been released.
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These area headlines are curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Kaye McIntyre, and Tom Parkinson. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays, 11 am weekends. This news summary is made possible by KPR listener-members. Become one today!