Democrats File 3rd Lawsuit Against Redistricting Maps
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Democrats in Kansas have filed a third lawsuit against a congressional redistricting law enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Four Democratic voters from Lawrence filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Douglas County District Court. They argue that GOP gerrymandering was designed to void Democratic votes in the liberal northeast Kansas community and violates the Kansas Constitution. The redistricting map moved Lawrence from the 2nd District of northeast Kansas into the sprawling 1st District of central and western Kansas with conservative Republican communities hours away by car. Two other lawsuits against the new lines were filed last month in Wyandotte County.
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Kansas May Modify Child Abuse Investigations
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Investigating suspected cases of child abuse could become more thorough in Kansas. Lawmakers are considering bills that would require more extensive medical exams of kids during child abuse investigations. The bill would require the investigations be performed by doctors trained in child care. Bruising on a child could be a sign of serious abuse, or it could be a misdiagnosed skin condition. Republican Senator Molly Baumgarnder says some doctors do not have the required training to tell the difference. “Determining the difference between an atypical development of a child or actual physical abuse is difficult to determine without that forensic training," she said. The bill specifically focuses on children younger than five. Multiple versions of the bill are being considered and have gained bipartisan support.
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Farm Groups Stymie Reorganization of Kansas Water Programs
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Powerful Kansas agriculture groups have blocked a bipartisan proposal to tie a big increase in funding for water conservation programs to a reorganization of state and local agencies that regulate water use. Tuesday, the Kansas House Water Committee reviewed a 283-page measure that consolidated water programs under a new state water department and boosted funding for water programs. But the committee approved a narrower bill to boost funding by $49 million a year without the reorganization. Groups like the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas Livestock Association opposed the reorganization, questioning whether it would improve conservation efforts. The narrower measure goes next to the full House for debate.
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Kansas Tax Collections for February Nearly $19 Million over Estimates
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas tax collections have, once again, beat expectations. The Department of Revenue reports total tax collections for the month of February were more than $502 million. That's nearly $19 million more than estimated. Last month's tax collections are 10-percent higher than tax collections in February of last year.
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Visitation Resumes this Weekend at Kansas Prisons
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - The Kansas Department of Corrections is resuming in-person visits at state prisons starting this weekend. Visitations were first suspended due to statewide staffing shortages and COVID-19. But infection rates have improved and more staff have been hired. Some prisoners have not seen their families in months. Inmates and their loved ones argue that visitation makes people happier and leads to fewer repeat offenders. Families can schedule visits but will need to wear masks to enter the facilities. Inmates will now be allowed to have three visitors instead of two. The state prison system still struggles with staffing shortages but corrections secretary Jeff Zmuda says it is improving.
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Kansas City Employee Dies, 2 Hurt in Garbage Truck Wreck
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ A Kansas City worker died and two others were critically injured when a trash truck they were in crashed and caught fire. The crash happened this (TUE) morning on Interstate 435 in northeast Kansas City. Police say the driver of the truck lost control while trying to exit onto Front Street. Investigators said the truck hit a concrete barrier and caught fire. One city worker died at the scene and the two others were hospitalized, one in serious condition and one in critical condition.
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Prosecutors Seek 9-Year Sentence for Former KC Detective
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Prosecutors are recommending that a former Kansas City police detective be sentenced to nine years in prison for the fatal shooting of a Black man. Eric DeValkenaere, who is white, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for the death of Cameron Lamb in December 2019. He was convicted in December of second-degree involuntary manslaughter. The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday that Jackson County prosecutors are asking Judge J. Dale Youngs to sentence DeValkenaere to four years for manslaughter and nine years for armed criminal action, with the sentences running concurrently. At trial in November, Youngs said DeValkenaere and another detective had no probable cause or a search warrant to go onto Lamb's property before he was shot.
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Hearing Set for Wichita Man Charged with Trying to Kill Ex-Girfriend and Her Daughter
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A preliminary hearing has been set for a Wichita man charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and other counts after police say he tried to kill his then-girlfriend in July and shot the woman's 2-year-old daughter. KAKE TV reports that a preliminary hearing for 22-year-old Kamden Campos has been set for April 7. Campos is charged with various counts, including attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery, kidnapping and weapons charges. Police say Campos lured his girlfriend, along with her two children, to Cheney Reservoir, where he tried to kill her. Police say when she escaped to her car and drove away, Campos fired a gun at her, hitting her 2-year-old child in the back. The child survived.
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Ukraine War, Inflation Hurt Business Outlook in Nine States
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ A new monthly survey suggests that worries about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation and rising interest rates combined to undermine the confidence of business leaders in nine Midwest and Plains states. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said businesses also fear the war may worsen the ongoing supply chain problems and push commodity prices higher. The report's confidence index fell to its lowest point ever in February when it hit 19.5, falling from January's already low 36.2. Any score below 50 suggests a negative outlook. The monthly survey covers Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
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Liberal Wins Traditional Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race Against Olney, England
LIBERAL, Kan. (AP) _ A Kansas woman won a narrow victory over her counterpart in England in the traditional, Shrove Tuesday Pancake Day race. Whitney Hay of Liberal, Kansas, ran the 415-yard course in 1 minute, 7 seconds on Tuesday. That beat Katie Godof of Olney, England (who ran her race in 1 minute, 10 seconds). The annual trans-Atlantic pancake-flipping race between Olney and Liberal began in 1950. It wasn't held last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hay, a 21-year-old student at Southwestern College in Winfield, also won the Liberal segment of the race in 2020 but Olney won that year's race. Each woman must flip a pancake in a frying pan at the start and at the finish of the race.
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Task Force: DOJ Should Investigate Wichita Foster Teen's Death
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A community task force is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the death of a Black teenager who was restrained facedown for more than 30 minutes at a Kansas juvenile detention center. Sedgwick County Commission Chairman David Dennis said last month that he was told by county Sheriff Jeff Easter that the FBI requested all information regarding the death of 17-year-old Cedric Lofton. The FBI is part of the Justice Department. But the task force wasn't certain about the investigation because its members only knew about it secondhand and they wanted to add their voices to those asking for an investigation, said member Jazmine Rogers, an organizer with the Wichita-based youth civil rights group Progeny.
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Kansas Lawmakers Tackle Education Issues as Session Enters Final Month
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas lawmakers start the final month of their legislative session this week facing a range of issues. They include how teachers talk about race and gender and whether to fund private schools with state tax dollars. Bills to give parents more control over what their children are taught on issues of race, gender and sexuality have passed out of legislative committees, but neither the House nor Senate has considered them. The same for bills that would allow low-income students to use state dollars to transfer to private schools. Senator Cindy Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat, says the proposals are attacks on public education. She believes the key to stopping them is to rally opposition in Johnson County - because it has more legislators than any other county and a long record of supporting its public schools. “Additionally, we generate close to 40% of the state’s revenue. That gives us a good reason to amplify our voice," she said. Supporters of the bills say they just want more information for parents and more options for at-risk students.
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Kansas Coronavirus Case and Deaths Numbers Slowing
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - The number of new coronavirus cases in Kansas has slowed down. But the pandemic isn't over. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports there have been 1,806 new cases and 16 new, virus-related deaths since last Friday. Another update is expected Wednesday.
(Additional reporting...)
Wyandotte County, Most of Northwest Kansas Remain at High Risk of COVID-19
HAYS, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all fallen to less than half of what they were during the peak of the Omicron surge. Since peaking in mid-January with more than 10,000 new cases per day, the number of positive COVID tests in Kansas has dropped significantly. Over the past week, the state averaged roughly 300 per day. That’s led to less strain on hospitals, with the number of ICU beds used for COVID patients falling by more than half. New federal guidelines also say people in areas with low or medium risk can stop wearing masks indoors. That includes some of the most populous Kansas counties like Johnson, Sedgwick and Shawnee. But federal statistics say Wyandotte County and most of northwest Kansas remain at high risk.
(Earlier reporting...)
Pandemic Fears Fading Along with Omicron Cases
UNDATED (AP) - Omicron is fading away, and so are Americans' worries about COVID-19. Fewer Americans now say they're concerned they'll be infected compared with January following the rise and fall of the wildly contagious coronavirus variant. That's according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 24% report being "extremely" or "very" worried about themselves or a family member contracting COVID-19. That's down from 36% in both December and January, when omicron caused a massive spike in infections and taxed public health systems. A new set of COVID-19 case numbers is expected to be released by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment today (MON).
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2 Tabor College Football Players Killed in Kansas Crash
HILLSBORO, Kan. (AP) — Authorities in central Kansas say two Tabor College football players from California died in a crash near Hillsboro. The Kansas Highway Patrol said the single-vehicle crash happened just before 4 am Sunday on a rural road south of Hillsboro. First responders found Johnethon Aviles, of Paso Robles, California, and Christopher Castillo of Tustin, California, dead at the scene. A third Tabor football player, Jonathan Medina, was taken to a Wichita hospital with serious injuries. The Kansas Highway Patrol said Medina was driving a vehicle that went off an embankment and rolled.
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BP Seeks to Appeal Kansas Town's Lawsuit over Gas Price Hike
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The energy company BP says in new court documents that it wants to appeal a judge's ruling allowing residents of Mulberry to sue over sharp hikes in natural gas prices last February. The Wichita Eagle reports BP filed two court documents in the last week that indicate it wants the lawsuit dismissed. One seeks permission to appeal Chief District Judge Lori A. Bolton Fleming's decision on Feb. 8 to let the lawsuit proceed. The second document outlines BP's belief that it cannot be sued by residents of the town. Mulberry sued after natural gas prices soared more than 100% during several days of a winter freeze in February 2021.
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Twitter Suspends U.S. Senate Candidate in Missouri
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A U.S. Senate candidate for Missouri says she has no plans to delete a transphobic tweet that Twitter says violated its rules against hateful conduct. Twitter suspended Vicky Hartzler’s personal account on Monday, saying she won’t be able to tweet, retweet, follow or like posts until she deletes the tweet. The mid-February tweet said: “Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women,” and included her TV ad targeting transgender people in sports and particularly University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas. Hartzler is among several Missouri Republicans vying for the 2022 Senate seat. Incumbent Republican Roy Blunt announced last year he would not seek a third term.
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Judge Blocks Kansas Law on Mailed Ballot Applications
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has permanently blocked a Kansas law prohibiting out-of-state groups from mailing advance ballot applications to voters who request them. U.S. District Judge Kathrn Vratil on Friday declared those provisions in the law violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing them. The court ordered the state to pay the attorney fees of two national nonprofit groups who say it disenfranchises voters. The state has agreed not to appeal the order. It partially resolves the lawsuit brought by VoteAmerica and the Voter Participation Center. In January, Vratil granted a preliminary injunction against the new law before it took effect.
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Missouri Man Charged in Woman's Drug Overdose Death
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A 33-year-old Missouri man is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the drug overdose death of a woman last year. The Cass County Prosecutor's Office alleges that Kyle Calhoun, of Garden City, Missouri, sold methamphetamine and fentanyl to 39-year-old Amy McConville, of Harrisonville. She was found unresponsive at a Garden City home last March and died later at a hospital. Cass County Sheriff’s investigators say they determined Calhoun gave the drugs to McConville. Investigators also identified two other people who Calhoun allegedly sold drugs to before they were hospitalized. Those two people survived. Calhoun is being held in the Cass County Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond.
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Texas Man Sentenced in $1.6 Million Oil Equipment Fraud
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Houston, Texas, man has been sentenced in Missouri to five years in federal prison for defrauding two men out of $1.6 million. Federal prosecutors say 58-year-old Duc Nguyen was sentenced Monday. Nguyen pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud. Prosecutors say he persuaded Phillip Hudnall of Lenexa, Kansas, and his brother, Brian Hudnall, of Kansas City, Missouri, to invest in a plan to buy, refurbish, and sale used oil equipment. The brothers transferred $1.6 million to Nguyen, who used it for trips to Las Vegas and personal expenses. The brothers pleaded guilty in 2020 to defrauding other investors and a bank out of $4.5 million as part of the scheme.
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Armed Man Who Broke into Kansas City Home Shot and Killed by Resident
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man who broke in to a Kansas City home was shot and killed by someone inside the home. Kansas City police department spokeswoman Capt. Leslie Foreman said the shooting was reported around 9:30 am Sunday at a home in the 3800 block of Northwest 85th Terrace. The Kansas City Star reports that a resident of the home told officers that he shot the armed man after he had broken into the house. The man died at the scene. Foreman said investigators will work to determine whether the intruder and the resident knew each other. Police said the person who shot the intruder is cooperating with investigators.
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Florida Man Dies After Losing Control of Truck While Fleeing Police
NORTON COUNTY, Kan. (AP) — A Florida man died when he crashed his truck while fleeing from police in northwest Kansas. The Kansas Highway Patrol said a trooper tried to stop the 29-year-old man for erratic driving shortly after 10:30 am Saturday. But the Wichita Eagle reports that Derek Stortzum of Brooksville, Florida, fled from the trooper along U.S. Highway 283 south of Norton. The crash report said that the Highway Patrol used a patrol car to bump into Stortzum's truck to try and end the pursuit. Trooper Tod Hileman said Stortzum lost control of his truck while he tried to flee from the trooper.
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No One Hurt When Kansas City Officer Fires at Armed Man
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City police officer fired a weapon during a confrontation Saturday but no one was injured. Kansas City police spokeswoman Captain Leslie Foreman said a suspicious vehicle with a driver passed out behind the wheel was reported shortly before 11 pm Saturday. The Kansas City Star reported that when officers arrived, they found that the driver had several firearms inside the vehicle. Foreman said the driver refused to comply with commands, and one officer fired a gun but no one was hurt. The driver fled in the vehicle, but was arrested by Leawood police after a short pursuit.
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KU School of Medicine Launching Diabetes Study
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) - The KU School of Medicine in Wichita is recruiting Black people with uncontrolled diabetes for a clinical trial. The 18-week program is all about troubleshooting the daily situations that get between people and their goals to manage diabetes better. KU professor Michelle Redmond is leading the pilot program of a new online curriculum that helps with this kind of problem-solving. “There are so many things that you have to think about," she said. "You have to think about what you’re eating. You have to think about foot care. And you have to think about the complications that can arise.” The program is called eDecide. The initial trial focuses on Black Americans, who face higher rates of diabetes.
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Tickets for Symphony in the Flint Hills Go on Sale Saturday
WICHITA, Kan. (KMWU) - Tickets for the 17th Annual Symphony in the Flint Hills go on sale Saturday, March 5th. This year's event will take place June 11th at Irma’s Pasture near Bazaar, in Chase County. This year's theme is Weather in the Flint Hills. It’s intended to bring attention to the impact that the weather has on the area. There will be several activities for people who attend, including presentations about the Flint Hills, covered wagon rides, guided prairie walks plus the concert itself. Ticket information available at symphonyintheflinthills.org.
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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!