Kansas Considers Raising Minimum Marriage Age
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas lawmakers are considering raising the minimum age for marriage to 18. A bill introduced by Representative Stephanie Clayton would eliminate an exception in state law that allows 16 and 17-year-olds to get married with a parent’s consent. Current law also allows 15-year-olds to marry with a judge’s permission. Clayton, an Overland Park Democrat, says people under the age of 18 are not allowed to make other legally binding decisions. "It really is the only adult thing that children can do, and I think it’s due to a lot of outdated notions and just, you know, ideas about marriage," she said. Clayton proposed a similar bill two years ago, but it failed to advance. Seven states have banned marriage for people under 18. Research shows that most underage marriages involve teen girls who marry adult men.
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Could Kansans Soon Hop a Train to Texas? Maybe.
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ/KPR) - Billions in federal funding could bring additional passenger rail service to Kansas. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that advocates and transportation officials told a Kansas legislative group Monday that federal funds could be used to establish passenger rail service between Kansas and Texas. Currently, the only passenger train that runs through Kansas is Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. The long-distance train runs between Chicago and Los Angeles, making stops both ways in Lawrence, Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City.
A short-distance, state-supported Amtrak line, the Heartland Flyer, serves passengers between Fort Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. For years, passenger rail advocates have pushed for Amtrak and federal railroad officials to support expansion of the line up to Wichita and Newton, the latter of which would be a connection to the Southwest Chief. But years of stagnant ridership and federal funding for Amtrak had kept expansion at the conceptual level.
However, as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, federal lawmakers allocated $66 billion to passenger and freight train improvements over the next five years. Of that $66 billion, $1.8 billion was set aside to help expand state-supported, intercity passenger rail service on Amtrak lines shorter than 750 miles, like the Heartland Flyer. And Kansas will likely apply for some of those funds.
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UPDATE: Olathe Police Investigate Woman's Death in Hotel Room as Homicide
OLATHE, Kan. (KSHB) - Police in Olathe are now investigating a homicide after a woman's body was discovered inside a hotel room Sunday morning. KSHB TV reports that officers responded to the hotel (located on West 151st Street near Interstate 35) after employees reported the woman failed to check out of her room. Police have now identified the victim as 53-year-old Rhoda Morgan, of Gardner. Detectives were still working to figure out the cause of Morgan's death. Police have also identified a person of interest in the case.
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Kansas Transgender Inmate Transferred to All-Female Prison
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A transgender inmate has been transferred from a Kansas men’s prison to the state’s women’s prison in Topeka. WIBW TV reports that the El Dorado Correctional Facility inmate, previously known as Thomas Lamb, was moved to Topeka Correctional Facility, the state’s all-female institution. Court records indicate he legally changed his name to Michelle Lamb in 2007. Lamb was convicted of kidnapping and killing a young woman in 1969 and kidnapping a second young woman in 1970.
In 2017, a U.S. District Court ruled against Lamb in a lawsuit asking the state to transfer her to an all-female facility, and allow her to pursue gender re-assignment surgery. An Appeals Court upheld the ruling in 2018, stating that, although it was not the treatment Lamb might want, evidence showed she was being provided treatment for gender dysphoria, and the state was not showing “deliberate indifference” to her situation. However, Kansas Department of Corrections records show she was transferred January 27 to Topeka Correctional Facility. It is not known if Lamb will now be allowed to go forward with gender reassignment surgery or whether the state would pay for such surgery.
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Midwest Hospitals Sued for Refusing to Perform Abortion
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) - A federal civil rights complaint alleges hospitals in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois illegally discriminated against a Missouri woman by denying her an emergency abortion last year. The National Women’s Law Center filed the complaint Monday with the Department of Health and Human Services. It claims multiple hospitals violated a section of the Affordable Care Act prohibiting sex discrimination when they denied Mylissa Farmer an abortion after she experienced life-threatening complications at 18 weeks of pregnancy. The group has said doctors with at least two hospitals recommended terminating the pregnancy, but their legal departments prevented them from doing that.
Farmer eventually obtained an abortion at a clinic in Illinois, some-300 miles from her home. While the hospitals were not named, previous filings about the incident identified the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, and Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Missouri. Representatives for both hospitals and HHS could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Kansas Man Killed in Oklahoma Small Plane Crash
HOOKER, Okla. (KFOR/KSNW) – Authorities have identified a Kansas man killed in a small plane crash in Oklahoma Saturday night. KSNW TV reports that 46-year-old Victor Mendoza, of Liberal, was the only occupant of the Cessna 172 that crashed in Texas County, about 10 miles northwest of Hooker, Oklahoma.
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OSHA Fines Kansas City Company After Worker's Death
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP/KPR) — A federal agency is proposing nearly $200,000 in fines against a Kansas City-based company after a technician died last year. The worker was electrocuted at a construction site in Missouri. The company, U.S. Engineering Services, was fined in 2021 after another technician was electrocuted while working at a site in Wichita. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says it has cited U.S. Engineering Services for three serious and two repeat violations. The most recent technician to die was electrocuted while working at University Academy in Kansas City. The agency cited similar violations after the 2021 fatality in Wichita. An OSHA investigation found the company did not follow required procedures that could have prevented the death. The company has 15 business days to respond to OSHA'S recommendations. A spokesperson for U.S. Enterprises did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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As Kansas Oil Cleanup Continues, Key Questions Remain Unanswered
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Kan. (TCJ/KPR) - Cleanup of the December oil spill in north-central Kansas is progressing but the cause of the spill and other key questions remain unanswered. More than 14,000 barrels of crude oil flowed from the Keystone pipeline into Mill Creek on December 7. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the spill represents the largest onshore oil spill since 2014. Operator TC Energy reopened the affected portion of the pipeline in late December after approval from the federal government.
A month-and-a-half after the spill, legislators haven't held any hearings to examine the incident or any potential state policy response. Leaders of the relevant committees say they will do so eventually. Lawmakers appear split on whether they are satisfied with the information they are receiving from TC Energy. Interstate pipelines are largely regulated at a federal level, but there have been no hearings in Washington, D.C. either. All the while, key details about the spill haven't been made public, most notably what caused the incident.
One source told Kansas Public Radio that the oil spill and remediation efforts to clean it up will likely cost $1 billion.
In a statement Monday, TC Energy said they have recovered "nearly 90 percent of the estimated release volume" from the spill using skimmers, vacuum trucks and "mechanical removal, as needed." The company has also temporarily diverted Mill Creek in a bid to help with cleanup efforts. In early January, TC Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency entered into an agreement governing the cleanup efforts, with the agency saying the spill violated the Clean Water Act. "The discharge has caused an imminent and substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States, including fish, shellfish, wildlife, public and private property, shorelines, habitat, and/or other living and nonliving natural resources under the jurisdiction or control of the United State," the consent order said.
Per the terms of the deal, TC Energy must regularly assess Mill Creek to determine the impact on the waterway, conduct air monitoring and submit to the EPA cleanup and health and safety plans, which must be approved by the agency. Key details are unknown. A TC Energy spokesperson said in an email that the company's investigation into the cause of the spill remains ongoing, as does testing of an affected portion of the pipeline.
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Kansas AG Files Lawsuit over Lesser Prairie Chicken's Federal Status
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says he'll sue the federal government over the endangered species status of the Lesser Prairie Chicken. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently listed the bird as a threatened species. Kobach says he plans to file a lawsuit to have the lesser prairie chicken’s threatened designation withdrawn. The listing means Kansas farmers and ranchers need to follow federal guidelines to help protect the bird’s habitat. Kobach contends it requires ranchers to get the government’s permission to move cattle. The bird was previously listed as threatened in 2014. But the listing was overturned in court.
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Suspect Arrested and Victim Identified in Topeka's Sixth Homicide of the Year
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - Topeka police have made an arrest in connection with a weekend shooting death. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 33-year-old Skyler J.M. Wilson was booked into the Shawnee County Jail on preliminary charges of first-degree murder. Wilson is accused of fatally shooting 48-year-old Jason Jeremy Neal early Saturday morning. Neal was pronounced dead at the scene after police were called later that morning to the 400 block of S.W. Tyler. Neal became Topeka's sixth homicide victim this month. Topeka police recorded 17 homicides in all of last year.
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Authorities: Hays Man Found Dead in Salina
SALINA, Kan. (KAKE) - Authorities say the body of a man from Hays was discovered on the streets of Salina over the weekend. KAKE TV reports that the body of 20-year-old Brendon Thomas Wade Reed was discovered by a resident early Saturday morning (the 1900 block of N 5th Street). Police are still investigating and no other information has been released.
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Advocates Requesting Clemency for Woman Convicted of Lawrence Murder
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Advocates for Sarah Gonzalez-McLinn are calling on Governor Laura Kelly to grant her clemency after she was convicted of murdering a man she says repeatedly raped her. Gonzalez-McLinn is serving 25-years to life for the 2014 killing of Hal Sasko in Lawrence. Sasko was her former boss at a local restaurant. She moved in with him when she was 17 years old and he was 50. She says he began grooming her as a young teenager, and raped her for months before the murder. The judge didn’t allow her defense to introduce those claims in court and the jury that convicted her of first-degree murder in 2015 didn’t know about the alleged abuse that preceded her crime. Advocates for Gonzalez McLinn say that her clemency application contains new evidence that Sasko was also grooming two other 16-year-olds. The governor’s office declined to comment on the case.
(Read more in the Lawrence Journal-World: Gonzales-McLinn Seeks Clemency in Murder of Lawrence Restaurant Owner)
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New KCI Single Terminal Set to Open in Late February
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KNS) - The new terminal at Kansas City International airport will officially welcome passengers on February 28. The $1.5 billion project took four years to build. It replaces the current terminals, which were built in 1972. The new terminal has been touted as the single most expensive infrastructure project in Kansas City history.
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Kansas City Police Find Body in Man's Car After Towing It
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Family members are questioning why Kansas City police didn't find a man's body in the cargo area of his own SVU until after they towed it to a Missouri police station earlier this month. Police are defending how they handled the situation. They say they didn't have a search warrant at the time the vehicle was towed on January 17 and the dead man, Adam "A.J." Blackstock Jr., hadn't been officially reported missing at the time. Blackstock's family says they just wants answers about what happened to the 24-year-old. The case is being investigated as a homicide.
According to The Kansas City Star, one forensic expert said police should have looked inside the vehicle before they moved it. "The idea of taking a vehicle into custody without searching inside a vehicle or opening the trunk is just negligent," said Brent Turvey, a forensic scientist and criminologist with the Forensic Criminology Institute in Sitka, Alaska.
Family members said they want answers about what happened to Blackstock, who leaves behind an 18-month-old son. The newspaper quoted Kansas City Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jake Becchina as saying last week that detectives were making headway toward identifying persons of interest in the case, but charges had yet to be filed.
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Former Kansas Community College President Arrested
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. (Montgomery County Chronicle) — The foundation director at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s School of Dentistry has been arrested in southeast Kansas on felony theft charges. The Montgomery County Chronicle reports that Dr. Daniel Barwick, who assumed his position at UMKC last December, was arrested in Independence on Friday and booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
Police accuse Barwick of stealing from an Independence business on nine different occasions in the past month. Formal charges are expected to be filed this week. When not living in Kansas City, Barwick resides in Independence, where he was the president of Independence Community College from 2011 to 2019.
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"School Choice" is Culture-War Focus for Kansas Lawmakers
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republican legislators in Kansas are focusing on helping conservative parents remove their children from public schools over what's taught about gender and sexuality. The effort has become their alternative to pursuing a version of what critics call Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law. A proposal to allow parents to use state tax dollars to pay for private or home schooling was to be available online Tuesday after a committee on K-12 spending introduced the measure in the House.
The introduction comes as funding and lesson plans for public schools have become hot button issues for conservative politicians nationwide. Lawmakers in Iowa approved a similar law last week and at least a dozen states are considering similar legislation.
Funneling public funds toward private schools is not a new idea, but it picked up fresh steam following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic partly because of parents' concerns over masks and vaccines. The issue also has been driven by opposition to how some schools conduct lessons about topics such as gender, sexuality and race. Critics of the bills say they siphon much-needed money away from public schools.
When Kansas' Republican-controlled Legislature opened its annual session earlier this month, GOP leaders planned to tackle what Senate President Ty Masterson called "the sexualized woke agenda" in how public schools discuss sexuality and gender identity.
Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said he wanted to pursue a measure that would spell out what schools could teach or discuss on those topics by grade level, much like the Florida law enacted last year.
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Kansas City Area Animal Shelters Plead for Help Due to Overcrowding
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (WDAF) - Four animal shelters in the Kansas City area are saying they are at crisis capacity. WDAF TV reports that Great Plains SPCA, KCK Animal Services, Melissa’s Second Chances and the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City are all at maximum capacity with large dogs. The organizations also say that fewer people are adopting, leading to an influx of animals staying in shelter longer. The shelters say that a total of 170 dogs larger than 30 pounds are currently in their care and they’ve had 430 requests from the public to surrender large dogs over the past two weeks. This has led to the rescue organizations having to halt voluntary admissions of large dogs.
Many of the shelters are also running adoption specials. Shelter officials say ways to help out with the overcrowding problem include fostering or adopting a large dog, taking found animals to be scanned for a microchip, making a donation or volunteering.
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Another Sunflower Showdown as K-State Plays KU in Lawrence
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - The No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks will be looking for revenge as they welcome in-state rival No. 7 Kansas State to Allen Fieldhouse tonight (TUE). The Wildcats took down KU in overtime two weeks ago in Manhattan. K-State has won three of its last four games and is tied for first in the Big 12 standings. The Jayhawks are coming off a road win against Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Can K-State get the better of KU again, or will the Jayhawks come out swinging and take down their in-state rival? That question will be answered at Allen Field House at 7 pm.
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Preparations Begin for Super Bowl Already Underway for Chiefs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KNS) - The Kansas City Chiefs players have some time off after winning the AFC Championship Sunday night, but preparations for Super Bowl 57 will be well underway by the time they report to work at the Truman Sports Complex on Thursday. Having been to three Super Bowls…one with Philadelphia and two with Kansas City…Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has become accustomed to all the weeklong activities at the Super Bowl site. He says the game plan for the Super Bowl 57 will be passed along this week: "I think it’s important. Before you get down to Arizona with the distractions and the different events that go on, you like to have at least the base part in." The Eagles are making their first trip to the Super Bowl since winning it in the 2017 season. This is the Chiefs third Super Bowl appearance in four years. In the 2020 season, they lost to Tampa Bay.
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Brother vs. Brother: Kelces Prepare for Super Bowl Showdown
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Donna Kelce is going to have to pull out her custom jersey — the one with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce's front stitched to Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce's back — one more time this season. For the first time in Super Bowl history, a pair of siblings will square off on the NFL's biggest stage. Kelce helped the Chiefs return to their third championship game in four seasons on Sunday night when they beat the Bengals for the AFC title. Jason has the Eagles back for the second time in six years after their NFC title win over the 49ers. "Cool scenario to be in, you know?" Travis Kelce said. "My mom can't lose."
Or maybe can't win. Indeed, there have been plenty of famous NFL siblings over the years, and many had some memorable matchups: Peyton vs. Eli Manning, Tiki vs. Ronde Barber. But they never reached the same Super Bowl, or had to put their dear old mom in such a predicament, where one will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the other one's expense.
"It's going to be an amazing feeling playing against him," added Travis, whose team has gotten the better of big brother's Eagles the last three matchups. "I respect everyone over there in the Eagles organization. You won't see me talk too much trash because of how much I love my brother. But it's going to be an emotional game, for sure."
Jason Kelce was even ever-so-briefly a Chiefs fan Sunday night, pulling on a Kansas City sweatshirt for about the three hours between the end of the Eagles' 31-7 rout of San Francisco and the finish of his little brother's 23-20 win over Cincinnati. "That's it for the rest of the year," Jason said with a smile. "I am done being a Chiefs fan."
The two brothers have come a long way from their solidly middle-class upbringing in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Jason blazed the trail as the star offensive lineman who earned a scholarship to Cincinnati, and Travis soon followed suit. Both caught the eyes of NFL scout during their college careers, and of one coach in particular: Andy Reid. It was Big Red who, while coaching the Eagles, used a sixth-round pick on Jason during the 2011 draft. And two years later, after Reid had gotten a fresh start in Kansas City, the Chiefs used a third-rounder to bring Travis into the fold. "Big brother probably protected Travis from doing some crazy things. He probably talked him from dropping off a ladder into raked-up leaves once or twice," Reid said Monday. "Listen, they're both at heart very competitive and compassionate, is the biggest thing. They care and they care about people and they care about they're game." They also happen to be very good at it.
Jason has been to six Pro Bowls and was just voted an All-Pro for the fifth time, and he's emerged as one of the best offensive linemen in Eagles history. Travis has been to eight Pro Bowls, just made a fourth All-Pro team and is second in NFL history to Jerry Rice in playoff catches, yards and touchdowns.
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Tom Parkinson and Kaye McIntyre. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on Twitter.