#1 Kansas Races Past #10 Miami in 2nd Half, Advancing to 16th Final Four
CHICAGO (AP) — Ochai Agbaji, David McCormack and Christian Braun powered a dazzling second half for Kansas, and the top-seeded Jayhawks pounded Miami 76-50 to advance to the program's 16th Final Four. Agbaji scored 18 points, McCormack had 15 and Braun finished with 12, helping Kansas rally after a lackluster start. The Jayhawks trailed by six points at halftime but outscored Miami 47-15 in the final 20 minutes. Kansas is the only No. 1 seed left in the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks won the Midwest Region for the 13th time with their ninth consecutive victory overall. Next up is the national semifinals and a matchup with Villanova on Saturday in New Orleans. Kansas is the sole remaining Number 1 seed in the tourney.
(Additional reporting...)
Kansas Jayhawks, Other Basketball Blue Bloods Advance to Final Four
UNDATED (AP/KPR) - Two weeks of upsets and underdogs in the books, the Final Four is down to four blue blood programs: Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and Villanova. Kansas faces Villanova Saturday, then Duke faces North Carolina for the first time in NCAA Tournament history. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is retiring this season and fans of the Blue Devils are hoping for a storybook ending to a storied career. Kansas beat Miami by 26 points Sunday, advancing to its 16th Final Four in program history and the fourth under KU coach Bill Self. It could be an epic Final Four in New Orleans next weekend.
Kansas-Nova and Duke-Carolina, Set for Epic Final Four Showdowns
UNDATED (AP) - Duke and North Carolina will meet for the 257th time but it will be their first meeting in the NCAA Tournament when they tip off Saturday night in the Final Four in New Orleans. It will be the final trip to college basketball's biggest stage for Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is chasing his sixth national championship. The winner of their showdown at the Superdome will get Kansas or Villanova in the title game. North Carolina will be making its 21st appearance in the Final Four, while KU is making its 16th. The four teams headed to the Big Easy combine to make it 61 times with 17 national titles between them.
Under-the-Radar 1 Seed? Jayhawks Flying High to Final Four
UNDATED (AP) – Duke and North Carolina are likely to get the most attention going into the men's Final Four this weekend. Yet the most dominant team so far in the NCAA Tournament just might be Kansas. The Jayhawks have dominated two of their four games, including a regional final win over Miami. They are also the only No. 1 seed left in the tournament. Kansas will play Villanova on Saturday. The winner advances to next Monday night's title game.
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Unemployment, Pandemic Lead to More Kansans Struggling with Hunger
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Advocacy groups say the surge in unemployment left more Kansans struggling with hunger during the pandemic. Even before COVID-19 hit, experts say one in 10 Kansans didn’t have enough food. And food banks say the situation got worse once the pandemic arrived. One in 6 Kansans also live in food deserts, areas without a grocery store. This especially affects urban areas and people of color – who were also harder hit by the pandemic. Central Topeka became a food desert in 2016. Mike Bell lives there. “So for the first time in 89 years, Central Topeka did not have a full-service grocery store," he said. Local residents are now working to replace the closed Dillon’s.
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Kansas Employee Pension System Halts Investments in Russia
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Trustees who oversee the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System have voted to halt future investments in Russian assets amid the country's invasion of Ukraine. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that while some board members initially pushed for a full divestment, others said they would rather focus on the future and noted the fund's current holdings in the country have been largely liquidated anyway. Kansas has $36 million invested in Russian equities, as of February 25. That accounts for about 0.14% of the pension fund's total investments.
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Kansas Lawmakers Running Out of Time to Finish Legislative Business
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas lawmakers have a lot of unfinished business and not much time left to get it done. Lawmakers will work this week and then break until the end of April, when they’ll briefly return to tidy up the budget and deal with any last-minute issues. Topping their list of unfinished business are Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s proposed elimination of the state sales tax on groceries and legislation pushed by conservatives to give parents more control over what’s taught in Kansas classrooms. Bills to legalize sports betting and medical marijuana are still in the mix. So is one to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports. Work remains on several bills triggered by COVID-19 politics, including one to take away most of the state health secretary’s disease fighting powers.
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Kansas Legislation Bans Transgender Females from Competing in Women's Sports
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - A bill banning transgender females from girls’ and women’s sports in public schools and colleges is halfway through the Kansas Legislature. If it passes, there’s a strong chance it will be challenged in court. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly vetoed a similar bill last year and lawmakers narrowly failed to override her. But this year’s version passed the Senate last week by a veto-proof majority. If the House does the same and the bill becomes law, Democratic Representative Stephanie Byers, a transgender woman, says the ACLU of Kansas will likely go to court to block it. "They’re ready for this. They know this is going to come down. And if it does there’s a legal fight here," she said. Asked to confirm that, ACLU Kansas director Micah Kubic would say only that legal action is one of the options being considered. Courts have blocked similar laws in two of the 11 states that have adopted them. Republican governors in Indiana and Utah recently vetoed similar transgender ban bills.
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1 Dead Following Shooting in Kansas City, Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police say one person is dead following a shooting in Kansas City, Missouri. Police were dispatched to the scene Friday afternoon, where officers found one gunshot victim who they have described in a news release only as a male. The victim's age was not released. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The Kansas City Star reports the killing happened in a fairly well-trafficked area in broad daylight. A police spokesperson says investigators are hopeful the community will help point them in the right direction.
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Kansas Senator Won't Vote to Confirm Biden's Pick for U.S. Supreme Court
UNDATED (KNS) - Kansas Republican Senator Roger Marshall says he will vote against confirming Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Marshall argues Jackson is soft on crime, including child pornography, and that she will "rubber-stamp Biden’s far-left agenda instead of protecting the Constitution and our Kansas values." An American Bar Association committee concluded Jackson is not biased. The committee interviewed 250 judges and lawyers who worked with her, including prosecutors in child pornography cases. They described Jackson as fair and possessing the highest integrity. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Man Who Killed Woman Found Dead with Couple's Toddler
BAXTER SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man shot and killed a woman and later was found dead inside a Kansas home with their slain toddler after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that police in Baxter Springs responded around 7:15 p.m. Saturday to a call from a woman asking for help. When officers arrived, 37-year-old Eli Crawford shot and killed 27-year-old Taylor Dawn Shutte as she exited the home. Crawford then went back into the home with their 2-year-old child, Clesslyn Crawford. After exchanging gunfire with law enforcement for hours, Crawford and the child were found dead in the home.
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Missouri Radio Station Offering Russian State Radio to Listeners
LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A radio station based in suburban Kansas City is facing criticism for airing Russian state-sponsored programming during the Ukrainian war. Peter Schartel owns KCXL in Liberty, Missouri, a small station run on a shoestring budget. He began airing programming from Radio Sputnik, which is run by the Russian government, in January 2020. Criticism has increased since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Schartel says the $5,000 a month he gets paid by the Russian organization also helps keep his small station afloat. He also says he wants to provide alternative programming with different viewpoints as way to support free speech. Critics say he's promoting propaganda and misinformation.
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Kansas Father Gets 29 Years in Prison for Killing 3-Year-Old Daughter
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A father was sentenced to 29 years for killing his 3-year-old daughter, whose body was found in a wooded area of Kansas City, Kansas, in July 2020. The Kansas City Star reports that the prison term for 30-year-old Howard Jansen III was handed down Friday during a hearing in Wyandotte County District Court. Jansen pleaded no contest last month to charges of second-degree murder, child abuse, aggravated child endangerment and interfering with a law enforcement investigation. His girlfriend, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, is serving a 31-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in November to second-degree murder and interfering with a law enforcement investigation. Police found the body of Olivia Jansen on July 10, 2020, hours after the father had reported the girl missing.
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Man Convicted in Shooting that Killed 1, Wounded NFL Player
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A jury has convicted a man of killing a college football player in Kansas and wounding another man who went on to play in the NFL. Twenty-one-year-old Francisco "Franky" Mendez was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the April 2019 shooting death of Dwane Simmons, a Washburn University football player. Mendez was also convicted on four counts of attempted murder for shooting at four other Washburn players. One of them, Corey Ballentine, had been drafted hours before the shooting by the New York Giants. He was shot but recovered and currently plays for the Atlanta Falcons. The three other players were not injured.
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Russians Charged in Years-Old Computer Hack of American Energy Sector, Including Kansas Nuclear Plant
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says four Russian government officials have been charged in hacks that targeted critical global infrastructure including the U.S. energy and aviation sectors between 2012 and 2018. Officials say the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington, Kansas, had its business network compromised. Though the intrusions date back years, the indictments come as the FBI has raised fresh alarms about Russian hackers scanning the networks of energy firms in the U.S. for vulnerabilities that could be exploited amid Russia's war against Ukraine. The four indicted Russians include an employee at a Russian Ministry of Defense research institute and three officials with Russia's Federal Security Service, which conducts domestic intelligence and counterintelligence. ( Read more.)
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Kansas Lawmaker Agrees to Counseling to Avoid Battery Charge
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 21-year-old Kansas legislator has agreed to undergo mental health counseling and a domestic violence assessment to avoid being prosecuted on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. The charge against freshman Democratic Rep. Aaron Coleman of Kansas City in Johnson County stemmed from a fight in October with his younger brother. Coleman also agreed to submit to drug or alcohol testing if asked. Coleman signed the diversion agreement with the Johnson County district attorney's office last week, and it was filed in district court Monday. In a separate case over a November traffic stop in Douglas County, records say Coleman pleaded no contest last month to a traffic charge.
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Kansas Lawmaker Apologizes for Remark Equating Gavel with Tomahawk
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — A Kansas House member has apologized after he asked a Native American lawmaker whether she used a tomahawk rather than a gavel to quiet the House. Rep. John Wheeler, a Republican from Garden City, made the comment last week to Rep. Ponka-We Victors-Cozad, a Democrat from Wichita. When Victors-Cozad used a gavel to quiet the House, Wheeler turned around and said he was "checking to see if that was a tomahawk." Wheeler said he was joking but immediately apologized when some lawmakers voiced disapproval. He said he would apologize personally to Victors-Cozad and two other Native American members of the Legislature. Victors-Cozad said she would reject the apology.
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White House Releases Report on Native American Voting Rights
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The White House says local, state and federal officials must do more to ensure Native Americans have equal access to voting. The Biden administration released a report Thursday that reiterated the persistent, longstanding and deep-rooted barriers to voting in tribal communities. Native Americans and Alaska Natives vote at lower rates than the national average but have been a key constituency in tight races and states with large Native populations. Absent action from Congress, Biden is seeking changes at the local and state levels. The White House report builds on other work by Native American voting rights advocates.
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GOP Push Against Ballot Drop Boxes Hits Rural Places, Too
LECOMPTON, Kan. (AP) — As Republicans question the security of ballot drop boxes, plenty of places stand to lose them, including small communities in Republican-leaning Kansas. A proposal approved early Thursday by the GOP-controlled Kansas Senate would cut the number of drop boxes statewide by more than 40% from the 2020 elections. The proposal likely would hit small towns on the outskirts of more populated places and some villages dotting rural vistas. Nineteen counties with fewer than 5,000 registered voters had two more boxes in 2020. Under the bill, 48 of the state's counties would have to cut back on their drop boxes. They would lose 80 of the 191 boxes deployed two years ago.
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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!