KC Chiefs Own Super Bowl 57!
GLENDALE, Ariz. (KPR) - Chiefs Kingdom is still celebrating after Kansas City came from behind for a last-second Super Bowl victory over the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night, winning the NFL title 38-35. The Chiefs won their second NFL title in four years and Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes earned his second Super Bowl MVP award. Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal to seal the win with eight seconds left in the game. The Chiefs had trailed by ten at halftime and didn’t lead the Eagles until the fourth quarter. Mahomes says he was fueled by his frustration from the last two years. " I appreciate it because of the failures, the failure to win the Super Bowl and losing the AFC Championship game gave me a greater appreciation to be standing here as a champion," he said. Mahomes threw for three touchdowns, and made a 26-yard run in the final minutes to set up the winning field goal. A championship parade is planned for Wednesday in downtown Kansas City.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who turns 65 next month, ended any speculation about his potential retirement plans. "If they'll have me, I'll stick around," he said.
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Kansas City Fans Celebrates Super Bowl Victory
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) - Gael's Public House on Troost Avenue in Kansas City was packed with Chiefs fans Sunday. Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker sealed the game, but Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes brought the team back from behind, playing in pain with a sprained ankle. Paris Anna says Mahomes made a football fan of her. "I love this team, I love this team," she said. "I'm just so excited. I don't even know how to react. I feel like I'm really calm, but on my insides, I'm like firecrackers going off." Anna just bought two extra Chiefs jerseys. She plans to be at the parade Wednesday.
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KC Police Officer Hit By Gunfire After Chiefs Won Super Bowl
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Kansas City police officer was hit by gunfire and wounded at the department's headquarters shortly after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Police Department said this (MON) morning that the officer's injuries are not life-threatening. The source and motive of the gunfire are unknown. The officer was shot just before 9:30 Sunday night at the police department in downtown Kansas City, just blocks from a large Super Bowl viewing party.
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Storm Late Wednesday Expected to Bring Snow, High Winds to North-Central and Northeast Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - A winter storm beginning Wednesday evening is expected to bring snow and high winds to north-central and northeast Kansas. Blowing snow could make travel "very difficult," the National Weather Service's Topeka office said in a graphic posted early Monday on its website. "Consider alternate travel plans and keep up to date with the latest forecast," it said. The storm is expected to move late Wednesday and Thursday across the central plains, according to the weather service.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Capital City has recorded 3.65 inches of snow so far this cold weather season. According to the National Weather Service, Topeka's average snowfall by February 13 is 12.1 inches.
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Kansas Republicans Shake Up Leadership by Electing Fiery Conservative as Party's New Chair
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - The Kansas Republican Party has made a change at the top. The party elected Mike Brown, a former Johnson County Commissioner, to replace outgoing GOP chair Mike Kuckelman. The chair oversees the party’s campaign efforts in Kansas. Brown says he’ll be a forceful outsider shoring up the party after losing races for governor and the 3rd Congressional District in November. “We’re going to get the governor’s seat back," he said. "We’re going to get CD-3 (the Third Congressional District) back. And we’re going to get control of this mess." Brown’s selection raises his standing in the party after he lost the Republican primary for Secretary of State in August. As a candidate for that office, Brown attacked incumbent Republican Scott Schwab over election security.
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Kansas Lawmakers Tackle Controversial "Flat Tax" Issue
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas lawmakers will hold hearings this week on a controversial proposal to flatten the state’s individual and corporate income tax rates. Currently, the state has three rates for individuals. The bill under consideration in a House committee would reduce that to one 5% tax rate. The Kansas Chamber, the state’s most influential business group, is pushing the proposal. But lawmakers in both parties are worried about its $1 billion-a-year cost. Republican Adam Smith chairs the House Taxation Committee. He says lawmakers need to be cautious when acting on several competing tax-cut proposals. “You know, everything we do has a cost," he said. "So, we just have to decide what’s our priority.” Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s priority is speeding up the elimination of the state sales tax on food as well as reducing taxes on Social Security benefits.
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Kansas House Democratic Leader’s Marijuana Bill Would Release Prisoners, Expunge Records
TOPEKA, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) - The Democratic leader in the Kansas House is pushing a cannabis amnesty bill for prison inmates. Topeka Democrat Vic Miller wants to release anyone convicted of marijuana-related offenses from prison. The Kansas Reflector reports that the bill would also allow marijuana-related convictions and arrest records to be expunged. Miller's cannabis amnesty proposal, known as House Bill 2363, has the support of dozens of fellow representatives. If approved, it would take effect July 1st.
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Kansas Lawmakers Seek University Funding Information on Diversity, Equity, Critical Race Theory
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - Kansas lawmakers are asking the state's public universities to detail how state funding is spent on diversity programs and initiatives. According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, state lawmakers did not explain why they want the data or how they plan to use it, but it comes as Republicans on the same committee used budgetary authority to ban diversity training for social service workers.
The request came from Rep. Steven Howe, R-Salina, who chairs the House Higher Education Budget Committee. Howe also requested a report on financial contributions to universities from any foreign country, corporation or other entity. This year, legislators are considering a bill that would ban diversity considerations from admissions to the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
The committee meets again this week for five days of budget hearings on the Kansas Board of Regents, state universities, independent colleges, community colleges and technical colleges.
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One Child Killed, Others Injured in Southwest Kansas Crash
LIBERAL, Kan. (WIBW) - One child is dead following a single-vehicle rollover crash in southwest Kansas. WIBW TV reports that emergency crews responded to the fatality crash early Sunday morning. The single-vehicle rollover happened along a rural stretch of Highway 83. When crews arrived, they found a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee which had driven off the road and into a ditch, rolling over. The driver, 17-year-old Felipe Gutierrez, of Syracuse, and two juvenile passengers were taken to a local hospital with suspected serious injuries. Another juvenile passenger sustained minor injuries. The last juvenile passenger in the Jeep was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials indicated that three of the passengers, including the juvenile who died, were not wearing seatbelts. Gutierrez and a passenger were.
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Kansas Legislature May Expand Program that Pays Two-Year College Tuition for Hundreds
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - A popular Kansas scholarship program designed to get more workers into high-demand jobs has been thriving. And lawmakers may expand the program this session. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the House Education Committee held a hearing on a bill last week that would mainly expand the Kansas Promise Scholarship Act. First passed by the Legislature in 2021, the Act provides funding for Kansans to attend certain two-year programs at community and technical colleges, as well as some universities, as long as they remain in Kansas for two years following school and work in a community with a high need or critical demand for workers like them.
Kansas Promise scholarships are meant to pay any remaining costs after other scholarships, grants or third-party funding sources are factored into a students' tuition. The program mostly prioritizes low-to-middle class Kansas households that may make too much money to qualify for full federal Pell grants but not enough income to pay for tuition outright. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the program gave $3.5 million awards to more than 1,000 Kansans during the 2021-22 school year.
When the bill was originally drafted, the Legislature selected four main fields of study that the governing body had determined lead to high wages, but still see a shortage and demand for workers in many Kansas communities. They included information technology and security, mental and physical health care, advanced manufacturing and building trades, and early childhood education and development. A new bill under consideration would expand the childhood education and development category to include two-year elementary and secondary-education programs.
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Father and Son Arrested After Alleged Meth Lab Burns Down in Pottawatomie County
POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY (KSNT) - A father and son in Pottawatomie County are under arrest after an alleged meth lab in their mobile home caught on fire last week. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office says they responded to a structure on fire Tuesday in Louisville, where they found smoke billowing from a mobile home. A father and son were able to exit the burning home with only minor injuries before emergency workers arrived on scene. KSNT reports that the sheriff’s office learned that there might be a meth lab inside the home. A search warrant was obtained and executed after the fire was put out. As a result of the search warrant, the father and son were placed under arrest and taken to the Pottawatomie County Jail.
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Kansas City Police Identify Human Remains Found in Backyard
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) - Remains found in the backyard of a Kansas City home last year have now been identified and are being investigated as a homicide. WDAF TV reports that police found the remains of 53-year-old Sirrena Truitt in the backyard of a home (near Paloma Avenue and Oakley Avenue) in October. Investigators say a resident called police after their dog dug up skeletal remains in the backyard. It's not known exactly how long the remains were there. The medical examiner’s office determined Truitt died by homicide, but detectives are not releasing additional details about her death.
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KC Gun Store Owner Sentenced for Selling Machine Gun Components
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) - A federal judge has sentenced the owner of a Kansas City gun store to more than two years in prison. Prosecutors say 37-year-old Charles Lee Weston, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a machine gun and selling components used to convert firearms into machine guns. Weston formerly owned a company called Drum Magazines. WDAF TV reports that a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found a website Weston used to sell components that can quickly convert firearms into fully-automatic machine guns.
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Kansas Highway Patrol: Man Killed After Train Hits SUV
BURLINGAME, Kan. (KAKE) - The Kansas Highway Patrol says an Osage County man was killed when his SUV was hit by a train in eastern Kansas. The crash happened Thursday morning south of Burlingame in Osage County. KAKE TV reports that a Subaru Forester was starting to cross railroad tracks near Kansas Highway 31 and U.S. Highway 56 and failed to yield to an oncoming train. The driver of the Subaru, 62-year-old Ronald Neilson, of Scranton, died at the scene.
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Former Kansas Chief Justice Appointed to Veterans Justice Commission
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - The former chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, Lawton Nuss, has been named to an advisory committee to the national Veterans Justice Commission. Nuss and others on the committee will examine why so many military veterans land in jail and prison, and why so many veterans feel unprepared for the transition back to civilian life. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the commission will eventually make recommendations for policy changes. The advisory committee is chaired by former U.S. Defense Secretary and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.
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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.