Lawrence School Board Delays Possible School Closures, for Now
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - The idea of closing certain Lawrence public schools is off the table, for now. Monday night, the Lawrence School Board decided not to close any schools for this year or next. Instead, the board will look elsewhere to close a budget gap estimated by district officials to be around $7 million. It's not clear yet where that money will come from, but one likely source involves cutting school programs. Faced with declining enrollment and reduced funding, six local schools had been targeted for possible closure, but at least for now, that won't happen. ( Read more in the Lawrence Journal-World.)
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Democrats, ACLU Sue over New Kansas Congressional Districts
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials face two lawsuits over a Republican redistricting law. The lawsuits filed Monday challenge a map that costs the state’s only Democrat in Congress some of the territory in her Kansas City-area district that she has carried by wide margins. A team of attorneys led by prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias's firm filed a lawsuit in Wyandotte County District Court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed another lawsuit shortly afterward. The lawsuits argue that the map enacted last week is unacceptable because it splits Kansas City, Kansas, and decreases the number of minority voters in Kansas Congresswoman Sharice Davids’s district. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has promised a vigorous defense of the new redistricting map. ( Read more.)
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Kansas Republicans Tie Remap Law to Pro-Ivermectin Measure
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Kansas Republicans appeared to get the new congressional district lines they wanted this week through horse-trading in the Legislature. Then, hours after the new map became law, the GOP leader who supposedly struck the deal seemed to go back on it. The sparring between Senate President Ty Masterson and Senator Mark Steffen highlighted tensions among conservatives in the Kansas Legislature. Steffen is a Hutchinson anesthesiologist and an advocate for allowing the controversial drug, ivermectin, to be prescribed for treatment of COVID-19. Health officials say the drug is ineffective against COVID-19 and possibly dangerous. Steffen said Masterson secured his and another crucial vote to override Democratic Governor Laura Kelly's veto of the GOP redistricting plan after what Steffen called a mutual agreement. COVID-19 legislation pushed by Steffen came out of committee. But Masterson quickly sent it back and stripped Steffen and two other Republicans of committee assignments.
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Missouri Bills Against Vaccine Mandates Advance in GOP-Controlled House
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bills to ban public employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccination and ensure unvaccinated patients can still get organ transplants are advancing in the Missouri House. The GOP-led House advanced the measures in a voice vote Monday. One bill would ensure people who are unvaccinated still get unemployment benefits if they’re fired for not getting the vaccine. Another would prevent doctors from stopping unvaccinated patients from getting organ transplants. Both bills need a second vote of approval to move to the Republican-led Senate.
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UPDATE: Father Charged with Murder After Infant Found Dead in Fire
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — The father of an infant killed in a house fire in suburban Kansas City, Kansas, has been charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the case. The fire was reported around 1 am Sunday in Shawnee. Firefighters battling the flames found the body of the infant inside home. WDAF TV reports that police later arrested 28-year-old Nicholas Adam Ecker. Ecker was charged Monday in Johnson County Court with first-degree murder and aggravated arson. Ecker is also charged with felony stalking, domestic aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm. He is being held on $1 million bond.
(Earlier reporting...)
Infant Killed in House Fire in Suburban Kansas City, Kansas
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Officials say an infant has died in a house fire in suburban Kansas City, Kansas, and a person has been taken into police custody as part of the investigation. Fire officials say the fire was reported early Sunday morning in Shawnee. Arriving Shawnee Fire Department fire crews found the house fully engulfed in flames and called for assistance from surrounding departments to help extinguish the blaze. Firefighters later found an infant boy dead inside the home. Authorities have not released the baby's name. The Shawnee Police Department said Monday that one person had been taken into custody, but did not release the person's name or give any other new details about the fire.
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Kansas Attorney General Seeks Ban on Municipalities Loosening Immigration Enforcement
TOPEKA, Kan.(KNS) - Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking the state Legislature to ban local municipalities from loosening enforcement of immigration laws. Schmidt’s comments come after Wyandotte County passed an ordinance on immigration enforcement. The ordinance blocks local police from enforcing immigration laws, or working with federal immigration agencies, unless there’s a danger to public safety. Wyandotte County officials hope it will encourage people who are undocumented to report crimes, because they won’t fear local police will question their immigration status. Schmidt says state lawmakers should specifically block these types of ordinances because it creates a patchwork of immigration laws in Kansas. He says local governments should not be able to choose which laws they want to enforce.
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Former Prison Officers Admit to Smuggling Contraband at Leavenworth Detention Center
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two former officers at the Leavenworth Detention Center admitted to smuggling contraband into the prison. Federal prosecutors announced that the officers pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to accept bribes and provide contraband to inmates of a federal prison. Prosecutors said 26-year-old Jacqueline Sifuentes, of Laredo, Texas, smuggled methamphetamine, marijuana and tobacco into the prison in exchange for bribes from a federal inmate. And 29-year-old Cheyonte Harris, of Raytown, Missouri, pleaded guilty to smuggle contraband into the prison in exchange for bribes from inmates and their associates. They worked at the Leavenworth Detention Center, a privately-run maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. They are scheduled to be sentenced May 17.
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Man Who Drove at Officer, Harassed Trump Rally Sentenced
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 33-year-old Wichita man who drove at a Sedgwick County courthouse officer and then harassed supporters of President Donald Trump has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. Prosecutors and defense attorneys for Justin Young recommended he receive probation for his actions in November 2020 because he was experiencing mental health issues after the death of his father. But Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Williams imposed the 30-month prison sentence at a hearing last week. An arrest affidavit says a demonstrator reported Young was harassing people at the Trump rally. Authorities said when Officer Stephen Linarez intervened, Young drove his truck toward Linarez, who escaped injury.
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California Man Killed in Small Plane Crash at Johnson County Airport
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) _ Authorities say a California man was killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed at an airport in Olathe. The Kansas Highway Patrol identified the pilot as 51-year-old Robert Douglas Ming, of Laguna Niguel, California. Officials say the crash happened as the single-engine Piper Aircraft attempted to take off late Sunday morning at the Johnson County Executive Airport in Olathe, headed for Albuquerque, New Mexico. Witnesses say the plane crashed and erupted in flames. Ming was the only person aboard the plane. The Olathe Fire Department responded and put out the flames and a small grass fire. Kansas Highway Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Tiffany Bush said the plane crashed between the airport and 151st Street. A large section of 151st Street between Pflumm and Quivira was closed Sunday after the crash.
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Oklahoma Abortion Providers See Huge Influx of Texas Women
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Abortion providers in Oklahoma say they're continuing to see a dramatic increase in women coming from Texas who want to terminate their pregnancies. Operators of two abortion clinics in Oklahoma said Tuesday that they've seen a huge influx in the number of women coming from Texas. Trust Women's Co-Executive Director Rebecca Tong says the company's Oklahoma City clinic went from seeing 12 Texas patients in August to 130 in September after Texas passed the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the U.S. in decades. An official with Planned Parenthood Great Plains says they went from seeing about 50 patients from Texas at their clinics in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma in the fall of 2020 to more than 1,000 last year.
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Democrats Eye Key Governors' Races as Backstop Against GOP
UNDATED (AP) – Wisconsin is one of four states emerging as top priorities for Democrats in an election year when the party is facing fierce political headwinds. Wisconsin as well as Kansas, Michigan and Pennsylvania have Republican-controlled legislatures and Democratic-held governorships. And those governorships are on the ballot in the fall. If the governorships switch parties, a flood of GOP legislation that has been blocked so far would likely become law. If Democrats hold the northern trio of states that helped Democrat Joe Biden become president, Democrats improve their chances of holding them in the race for the White House in 2024.
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Missouri Senator Josh Hawley Endorses Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler in 2022 U.S. Senate Race
UNDATED (AP) - Missouri Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler has landed the endorsement of would-be colleague Josh Hawley in her 2022 U.S. Senate bid, an endorsement that one expert on Monday called “a shot in the arm” and another called “perplexing.” Hawley on Saturday announced his support of Hartzler during a Republican gathering in suburban St. Louis. Hartzler is among several Republican candidates seeking the Senate seat. She faces a crowded field of candidates that includes former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, fellow U.S. Rep. Billy Long and St. Louis lawyer Mark McCloskey, who gained attention in 2020 when he and his wife emerged from their home with guns to confront racial injustice protesters.
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Kansas Senator Marshall Floats Proposal to Require Mental Health Exam for President Biden
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) -Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall says if Republicans win control of Congress, they’ll consider legislation requiring Democratic President Joe Biden to take an annual cognitive test. Marshall raised the possibility during an interview Sunday on Fox News. Marshall says he’s discussed the idea with other conservative Republicans including Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Ohio Representative Jim Jordan. Marshall, a physician from Great Bend, says he sees signs of deterioration in the 79-year-old president’s mental capacity. A neurological exam done in November as part of Biden’s annual physical found no evidence of impairment. Polls show that concerns about Biden’s mental fitness are common among Republicans publicly aligned with former President Donald Trump.
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Unvaccinated Medical Workers Turn to Religious Exemptions
UNDATED (AP) – As the remaining vaccine mandates for medical workers get to set be implemented this week in 25 mostly conservative states, it is once again becoming clear how widespread the use of religious exemptions is in the U.S. as a workaround to complying with such requirements. At one rural hospital near Yellowstone National Park, about 200 of the 620 staffers have put in requests for religious exemptions, most of which have been granted. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte pledged his support to the unvaccinated last week and urged them to consider seeking exemptions. And West Virginia lawmakers have advanced a proposal that would allow workers who are denied an exemption and then quit, to collect unemployment benefits.
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Police Shoot Armed Suspect After Standoff in Leavenworth
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) - Authorities are investigating after police officers shot and critically wounded a man in Leavenworth. Officers from several departments went to an area near 4th and Miami streets around 5 am Sunday because a man had a gun. Authorities blocked traffic in the area and began to negotiate with him. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said 31-year-old Donald Barden Jr. ignored officers' commands, waved his gun around and made suicidal statements during the standoff. Then around 6:20 am, he ran toward officers and pointed his gun at them, and two officers shot at him, wounding him. Barden was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and he remained stable Sunday.
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Details Emerge Regarding Flight Diverted to Kansas City Due to Unruly, Erratic Passenger
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An American Airlines plane was diverted to Kansas City, Missouri, when a large, unruly passenger allegedly tried to force open a door before he was subdued by a coffee pot across the head, a punch to the jaw and zip ties and duct tape. A federal affidavit released Monday spelled out the harrowing details. The incident happened Sunday afternoon on American Airlines flight 1775, which was heading from Los Angeles to Washington. The plane landed safely at Kansas City International Airport and the suspect, 50-year-old Juan Remberto Rivas, was taken into custody. Rivas was charged Monday with one count of interference with a flight attendant.
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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 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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Kansas Principal Told to Apologize for Showing "White Privilege" Video
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas high school principal was told to apologize after he showed a video discussing white privilege to his school's staff. Derby High School Principal Tim Hamblin showed the four-minute video during a staff in-service day last month. A teacher who was at the meeting later complained to a school board member that the video was offensive and created a hostile work environment. The board member told Hamblin to apologize, which he did in an email to staff. In response, some teachers gathered signatures to show support for Hamblin.
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Kansas City, Missouri, Police Identify Victim of Apartment Building Shooting
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Police have identified the victim of a fatal shooting at the Willow Wind Apartments in Kansas City, Missouri. Police said Saturday that officers responding to a reported disturbance with a weapon on Thursday found 62-year-old Samuel Zamudio suffering from apparent gunshot wounds in the foyer of the apartment building. Emergency responders pronounced him dead a the scene.
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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!