Bitter Cold Temps Descending on Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The National Weather Service is warning of bitter cold descending on several Midwest states, including Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and parts of Missouri, as a winter storm system dropped some snow, sleet and freezing rain on those areas early today (TUE). The weather service has issued a wind chill warning for much of western and northern Nebraska until noon Wednesday, with sub-zero temperatures and high winds combining to send the wind chill plummeting to a dangerous 40 below zero in some areas — including Chadron, Alliance and Broken Bow — by early Wednesday morning. Much of Kansas could see wind chills as low as 20 below, while most of Iowa and a northwest segment of Missouri were warned to expect wind chills around 15 below.
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Kansas House Passes Proposal for New Constitutional Amendment Restricting State Agency Regulations
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – The Kansas House Monday approved a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the authority to revoke rules and regulations created by the governor's administration and state agencies. The proposal failed in the House last week, but a procedural move gave lawmakers one last chance. The amendment got the two-thirds majority vote needed in the Kansas House with support from Republican lawmakers. They say it will stop governors and state agencies from making rules that effectively change state law. But Democrats oppose the bill, saying the change would disrupt the state’s balance of power. They say the bill is targeting Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. If the amendment is approved in the Senate, it will go to a statewide vote this fall.
(AP version...)
GOP Saves and Advances Plan to Limit Kansas Agency Regulations
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House has approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution to make it easier for the GOP-controlled Legislature to overturn state agencies' regulations. Republicans had help from two dissident Democrats in Monday's 85-39 vote. That was one vote more than the two-thirds majority necessary for passage. Most Democrats see the measure as a political attack on Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, but Republicans say they're trying to curb bureaucrats' power. Under the proposal, lawmakers could repeal regulations with simple-majority votes in both chambers. Lawmakers now must pass a bill and obtain the governor's approval or two-thirds legislative majorities to override a veto. The measure went to the Senate.
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Kansas Lawmakers May Make It Harder for Police to Seize Cash
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering two proposals that would make it harder for police to seize and keep cash and property from people suspected in crimes. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that one bill would require law enforcement to get a criminal conviction before seizing assets. Currently, law enforcement can go to civil court to get approval to take property officers believe is linked to a crime. Supporters of the process say it serves as a deterrent to crime and provides important funding for law enforcement. The latest Kansas Bureau of Investigation report on the practice said law enforcement agencies statewide claimed $2.1 million in cash and nearly $800,000 in other property in 2020 through the civil forfeiture process.
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Lawmakers Don't Want Kansas to Stop Electing County Sheriffs
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Many Kansas legislators want to make sure that counties don’t change the longstanding tradition of electing sheriffs by enshrining the policy in the state constitution. The Republican-controlled state House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a proposal to add language to the Kansas Constitution’s short article on county government to ensure that sheriffs are elected to four-year terms. A final vote was expected Wednesday. Only Riley County out of the state's 105 counties doesn't elect a sheriff. However, a commission in the state's most populous county of Johnson County reviewed a proposal to make the sheriff there appointed before deciding against any major changes in county government.
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Ex-Kansas City Officer Won't Be Jailed During Conviction Appeal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge says a former Kansas City, Missouri, police detective will be allowed to remain out of jail while he appeals his conviction in the shooting death of a Black man. Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs ruled Tuesday that Eric DeValkenaere will remain free on bond while his attorneys appeal his conviction for involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb in December 2019. DeValkenaere will be sentenced March 4. DeValkenaere shot Lamb as he backed his truck into a garage where he lived. Youngs found him guilty in November, saying DeValkenaere and another detective had no probable cause or a search warrant to go on Lamb's property.
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Missouri Officials: Salina, Kansas, Man Involved in Fatal 2-Vehicle Crash
PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in Platte County, Missouri, say a man and a teenage boy were killed in crash that also injured two other children and a woman. The Platte County Sheriff's Office says the crash happened Sunday afternoon on state Highway 92 between Platte City and Smithville. Investigators say a minivan driven by a 37-year-old man from Salina, Kansas, overcorrected after drifting onto the shoulder and veered into oncoming traffic, colliding with a car. Officials say the man and a 14-year-old passenger were killed. Two other passengers in the minivan — a 6-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl — were rushed to a hospital. Investigators say the 67-year-old woman driving the car also was taken to a hospital with injuries. Officials have not released the names of the man and child killed.
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Medical Examiner: Motorcycle Driver Shot Before Crash
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — What appeared to be a deadly motorcycle crash turned into a homicide investigation after a medical examiner determined the driver had been shot before the crash. The crash was reported shortly before 3 am Sunday after the motorcycle driver went straight into a roundabout at the intersection of Benton Boulevard and St. John Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. Police department spokesman Jake Becchina said the motorcycle driver was thrown off his burnt orange Harley Davidson in the crash. The driver, who was identified as 50-year-old Jeffrey Nemitz of Omaha, Nebraska, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The Jackson County Medical Examiner determined later that Nemitz had been shot.
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Shots Fired at Vehicle That Crashed in Wichita; 2 Dead
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two people were found dead in a car that crashed in Wichita after it came under gunfire. KSNW TV reports that the crash happened early Monday. Police say that although someone was shooting at the car, officers don’t think bullets hit any of the people inside the vehicle. Police identified the two victims as 21-year-old Amill Williams and 20-year-old Alonzo Montgomery. A 22-year-old woman also was ejected from the car but is expected to survive. Police are still investigating.
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Man Charged with Attempted Rape of Kansas City Hospital Patient
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jackson County prosecutors say a man is facing felony charges after a patient at a Kansas City hospital reported that he tried to rape her. The suspect, 31-year-old Elisha Beraiah, was charged Saturday with first-degree attempted rape and first-degree sodomy. Prosecutors say officers responded to a call Thursday at University Health Medical Center. The victim, who is visually impaired, said a man assaulted her while she was in her hospital bed. A hospital staff member said she went into the room and saw Beraiah in the woman's bed with his pants down. He is being held without bond. Online court records don't list an attorney for him.
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Lawsuit Filed over 2019 Jailhouse Suicide in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A civil lawsuit has been filed over the jailhouse suicide of a Wichita man charged with killing an elderly Army veteran. KAKE reports that the suit, which was filed Friday, alleges that Sedgwick County commissioners and the sheriff are at fault in the death of 36-year-old Austin Stewart. He was found dead in his cell in May 2019 of self-inflicted asphyxiation. Stewart was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and theft in the November 2018 beating and asphyxiation death of 88-year-old Floyd Gilbert. Court records say Gilbert died during an attempted robbery. Stewart and another man apparently targeted Gilbert because they thought he kept cash and guns in a safe in his home.
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Missouri, Justice Department Feud Complicates Joint Program
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A crime-fighting partnership between Missouri and the Justice Department is caught in the middle of a dispute over a new Missouri law banning local police from enforcing federal gun laws. The Department of Justice teamed up with the Missouri attorney general's office to fight violent crime under the Safer Streets Initiative. Missouri's Republican attorney general, Eric Schmitt, said this week that the federal government withdrew from the program after filing a lawsuit this week seeking to block enforcement of Missouri's new gun law. However, although Missouri assistant attorneys general working for the St. Louis-based U.S. attorney were dropped from the program last week, the partnership with the Western District U.S. attorney remains.
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Infrastructure Deal Includes Money to Fix 2019 Flood Damage
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The nation’s massive infrastructure bill includes $248 million to help repair damage from 2019 flooding along the Missouri River. The St. Joseph News-Press reports that the flood damaged most of the structures used to control the river in an area that stretches from Rulo, Nebraska, to St. Louis. Dane Morris, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the intent is that once these structures are repaired, that they should be able to sustain a flood similar to 2019 better than they did previously. The flooding three years ago breached levees, inundating tens of thousands of acres and forcing thousands from their homes.
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Happy TWOSDAY! Today's date is the perfect palindrome. The 22nd of February, 2022 (or 2-22-22) is a once-in-a-lifetime lineup of dates that won't happen again for another two hundred years. Today's date, which reads the same forwards and backwards, has been dubbed Twosday, because it falls on a Tuesday. Enjoy!
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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!