Kansas Attorney General Testifies About Growing Retail Theft Problem in Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach testified about retail theft Tuesday before a U.S. House committee in Washington, D.C. Kobach claimed Kansas is in the top 10 states hit by organized retail crime in terms of money lost. Kobach highlighted cases such as the owner of a Kansas City pawn shop who pleaded guilty to gathering items stolen from retailers and reselling them online. The Kansas Reflector reports that Kobach cited several factors in the legal system that worsen the problem: a lack of prosecution, the threshold amount that must be stolen in order to prosecute the theft, investigative capacity, bail being set too low and the speed at which suspects are released.
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Kansas Insurance Commissioner Diagnosed with Cancer
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt has announced she has breast cancer. The diagnosis came following a routine mammogram and a biopsy. Schmidt says she expects to make a full recovery and she's encouraging everyone to schedule preventive health screenings. She will continue to work at the department while undergoing treatment at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. Schmidt, a Republican, just started serving her second, four-year term after being reelected last fall. Previously, she served as a state senator for more than a decade.
(– Additional reporting –)
Insurance Commissioner Diagnosed with Breast Cancer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt has been diagnosed with breast cancer and plans to undergo treatment in the coming weeks. Schmidt disclosed the diagnosis in a statement Wednesday. She said she will continue to work as the state's top insurance regulator while undergoing treatment at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City, Kansas. Her statement was not more specific about her treatment. “I expect to make a full recovery,” Schmidt said, adding that operations at her department “will not be interrupted.” Schmidt, who is 67, said a doctor found “an area of concern” during a routine mammogram and ordered a biopsy. She informed her staff of her diagnosis on Wednesday morning. A Republican, Schmidt was first elected commissioner in 2018 and reelected last year with 63% of the vote, the largest percentage of any candidate running statewide. She is a pharmacist who represented a Topeka-area district in the Kansas Senate for 14 years before her election as insurance commissioner.
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Kansas City Sues Auto Manufacturers Over Rash of Car Thefts
KANSAS CITY, Mo. ( KMBC) — Officials in Kansas City have filed a lawsuit against auto manufacturers Hyundai and Kia after a surge of vehicle thefts in recent years. The city’s complaint blames the car companies saying the thefts were “easily preventable if the manufacturers had installed basic, common technology in those vehicles.” KMBC TV reports that a popular series of videos on TikTok, YouTube and other online sites shows step-by-step instructions on how to start and steal Kia and Hyundai automobiles — using only a screwdriver and a USB cable. Police departments across the country say the videos have caused thefts to spread rapidly over the last three years.
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Rare Tick-Borne Disease Identified in Southeast Kansas Resident
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – State health officials have identified a rare tickborne illness in southeast Kansas. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) recently confirmed the Heartland Virus Disease in a Crawford County resident. KWCH TV reports that this is the first case of Heartland Virus in Crawford County and only the third case identified in Kansas since the virus was first discovered in northwest Missouri in 2009. The previous two cases in Kansas were identified in Miami County in 2015 and Anderson County in 2018. To date, there have been more than 50 cases of Heartland Virus diagnosed across the Midwest and Southern United States. The Crawford County resident was diagnosed in late May.
Heartland Virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected Lone Star Tick, the most common tick in Kansas, which is most active from May through August. The symptoms of Heartland Virus Disease are vague and include fever, fatigue, muscle or joint pain, headache and occasionally a rash. Healthcare providers should consider Heartland in patients with compatible clinical illness and bloodwork findings when other common tickborne illness testing is negative.
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Walmart's $257 Million Beef Processing Facility Coming to Olathe
OLATHE, Kan. (KNS/KCUR) — Walmart is spending a quarter of a billion dollars on a beef packaging plant in Olathe. That will bring hundreds of jobs and signal a big change in the way beef gets to your shopping cart. Walmart’s Olathe packaging plant will take big cuts of beef from a slaughterhouse in Nebraska and turn them into small cuts, packaged and priced for Midwestern Walmart stores. It’s the kind of work that grocery store butchers do, except at a much larger scale. The company says it will hire about 600 people at the $257 million plant. Company officials say the plant will be built later this year near the southern edge of Olathe. Walmart is far and away the largest food retailer in the United States. It and other giants, like Costco, are doing more of their own food processing to hold down costs. Beef prices are up about 15% in the last two years. And a sharp decline in production will likely drive prices higher through 2025.
(Earlier reporting...)
Walmart to Build $257 Million Beef Facility in Olathe
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — Walmart officials say they will build their first-ever beef facility in Olathe. The retailer plans to invest $257 million in the plant and create 667 new permanent jobs. Construction of the facility will also create 1,000 design, fabrication, and construction jobs. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly praised the news. “Walmart’s innovative new facility will support a more prosperous future for Olathe, for the Kansas City metro, and for our state as a whole," she said. Walmart says the opening of the facility will further the company's effort to create an end-to-end supply chain for high-quality Angus beef. The new facility is set to break ground later this year. The facility will be designed and built by McCownGordon Construction of Kansas City. Once opened in 2025, the facility will process Angus cuts, supplied by Sustainable Beef LLC, into case-ready beef products such as steaks and roasts to be sold in Walmart stores across the Midwest. Walmart operates 83 retail stores and employs 22,178 associates in the state of Kansas.
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Lawrence and Douglas County Get New Public Health Director
LAWRENCE, Kan. (LJW) — The Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Department has hired a new director. On Tuesday, the health department announced that Jonathan Smith will take over beginning July 26. Smith previously served as operations director at the Atchison Community Health Clinic. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Smith has worked at other clinics throughout Kansas and Michigan.
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Parents of Girl Who Drowned at Kansas City Water Park File Lawsuit
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The parents of a 6-year-old girl who drowned at a popular Kansas City water park last year allege in a lawsuit that the park repeatedly hires young, inexperienced lifeguards and does not adequately train them. Therron and Debra Stewart, of Grandview, Missouri, filed the lawsuit against Oceans of Fun and its parent company, Cedar Fair. Their daughter, Adeline Stewart, died at a Kansas City hospital days after she was pulled from the Coconut Cove pool on July 5, 2022, The Kansas City Star reported. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Wednesday. Lawyers for the family say in the lawsuit that pool lifeguards did not detect Adeline for several minutes, even while park patrons made “frantic attempts” to get their attention. After she was pulled from the pool, the lifeguards were not equipped to give her first aid, according to the lawsuit. The Stewarts are seeking a jury trial. After Adeline's death, the water park made some changes to improve safety, including increasing height requirements for wearing life jackets in the pool, and requiring children shorter than 3½ feet to be accompanied by a supervisor.
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Missouri Man Guilty of Attempting to Have Sex with Teenage Girl
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KSHB) — A federal jury has found a Kansas City man guilty of traveling across state lines with the intent to have sex with a teenage girl. KSHB TV reports that an investigator with the Osahe County Sheriff's Office posed online as 17-year-old girl as part of an undercover sting operation to communicate with 58-year-old Steven E. Spradley. Federal prosecutors say Spradley traveled from Jackson County, Missouri, to Osage County with the intent to have sex with the teenager. He was arrested in July 2021 and now faces up to 30 years in prison.
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Wichita Police Explain How Human Smuggling Law Will Be Enforced
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS/KMUW/KPR) — Law enforcement officials in Wichita have been explaining to residents how police plan to enforce a new anti-human smuggling law. The new state law defines human smuggling with broad language that could potentially affect people living in the country illegally. The Wichita police department says it will not enforce the law unless another criminal activity is present. The department says that it will focus on human smuggling cases where someone is benefitting from the exploitation of another. Chief Joe Sullivan says that as far as policing goes for the city, nothing will change. “The important thing here, when it comes to members of the undocumented community is they have nothing to fear here in the city of Wichita," he said. The police department says it will conduct formal training to ensure its officers do not ask about immigration status when conducting traffic stops or other investigations.
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Local Activists Plead with Missouri Governor Not to Pardon Former KC Cop
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) — Activists in Kansas City are worried that a police officer convicted of fatally shootig a Black man in 2019 might receive a pardon - and they're pleading with Missouri Governor Mike Parson not to issue one. Detective Eric DeValkenaere was convicted in 2021 in the death of Cameron Lamb. Faith leaders in Kansas City gathered Tuesday afternoon at the Jackson County Courthouse to protest the possibility that Missouri’s governor might issue a pardon. KCTV reports that Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker sent a public letter to Governor Parson urging him not to issue a pardon. A judge convicted DeValkenaer and sentenced the former officer to six years in prison. DeValkenaer’s attorneys immediately appealed and he has been out on bond pending a ruling from an appeals court judge.
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Rural Broadband Improvements Approved for Communities in Southeast Kansas
UNDATED (KNS) — Kansas internet provider Craw-Kan has received a $50 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build out broadband infrastructure in southeastern Kansas. Christy Davis, with the USDA, says the investment could help stem decades of population decline and disinvestment in the area. “Because people can work remotely, because you can provide some of the same educational and health care resources to these communities that you would have in urban areas, broadband is essential to not only maintaining these communities in rural Kansas but continuing to grow them," she said. The project will cover Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette and Neosho counties, and will include rate subsidies for low-income households. The money is part of more than $700 million the Biden administration has allocated to boost rural broadband access across the country.
(Additional reporting...)
USDA Announces $50 Million to Bring High Speed Internet to Southeast Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KZRG) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a nearly $50 million loan to connect thousands of rural Kansans to affordable high-speed internet. The project will improve service for hundreds of businesses and farms and more than 40,000 people in Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette and Neosho counties. KZRG reports that this is the fourth round of funding from the USDA's ReConnect Program. The latest announcement is part of a larger national announcement totaling $714 million in USDA investments in Kansas and 18 other states. To learn more about investment resources for rural areas, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
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Former FBI Analyst Faces Prison Time for Keeping Classified Documents
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KC Star) — A former intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Kansas City division will be sentenced in federal court next week after being convicted of two counts of violating the Espionage Act. The Kansas City Star reports that data analyst Kendra Kingsbury kept nearly 400 classified documents in her home. On the sentencing memorandum filed Monday, federal prosecutors requested she be sentenced to nearly five years in prison. The government maintains that the defendant “knowingly and willfully retained” the documents in an unsecured space and that 20 of the documents included national defense information. Sentencing is set for Wednesday.
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USDA Working with Tribal Nations on Climate-Friendly Ag Projects
UNDATED (HPM) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with tribal nations around the Midwest and Plains states to support climate-friendly agriculture. Harvest Public Media reports that one of the projects will help the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska start a Center for Excellence in Regenerative Native Agriculture. The center will teach Indigenous farming practices to producers to take care of water and soil. The center is a spotlight example of how the USDA is trying to partner with tribes as well as meet climate goals, says Josiah Griffin of the department’s office of tribal relations. “As we look at today's landscape of changing climates, we recognize Indigenous knowledge as an opportunity for us to be reflective and better meet our trust and treaty responsibilities for our tribes," he said. Other initiatives include a bison project with the Intertribal Buffalo Council and a pecan and livestock farming project with the Muscogee and the Choctaw nations in Oklahoma.
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Kansas Doctor Dies After Saving Daughter from Drowning on Colorado Raft Trip
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP/KPR) — A Kansas doctor saved his daughter when she became trapped by their overturned raft in a rushing Colorado river, but later died of brain trauma he suffered. Authorities say 47-year-old Dustin Harker, a neurologist from Hutchinson, was on a whitewater rafting trip Friday with friends from church and four of his 13 children when the accident happened in the Sunshine Falls area on the Arkansas River. The family had rafted the same river in previous years but the rapids were more turbulent than usual due to high amounts of rainfall, Harker's sister-in-law, Sharon Neu Young, said in an email to the Hutchinson News.
A raft carrying Harker and three of his children capsized. “Everyone struggled to get above water,” Young wrote. “In the tumult, Dustin threw the capsized raft off his youngest daughter who was trapped underneath.” She did not disclose the girl's age. Everyone made it to shore and Harker was even able to speak, but he “had already taken on too much water” and soon became unresponsive, Young wrote. He died despite CPR efforts. Young says Harker died from two cerebral hematomas. "They suspect his head crashed against some rocks in the river when he was thrown from the boat," Young said. Cheryl Gonsalves, marketing manager for Hutchinson Clinic, said Harker cared deeply about his patients. “He was absolutely revered here,” she said.
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Kansas Directs Grant Money to Youth Suicide Prevention
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS/KMUW) — Kansas is directing the money from a $3.6 million federal grant toward youth suicide prevention in Wyandotte County and southeastern Kansas. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Kansans aged 15 to 24 and has risen 64% in the state over the past two decades - outpacing the national rate. Mary Jones is president of the Mental Health Association of South-Central Kansas. She says the pandemic intensified social isolation and made it harder to screen young people for mental health issues. “When COVID happened and you have lack of resources, a lot of stress and trauma, you just see all of those mental health conditions at an exacerbated level," she said. The five-year grant will go toward suicide risk education, screening and treatment for young people. The Suicide Prevention and Lifeline number is 988.
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Kansas Teachers Explore New Method of Teaching Kids How to Read
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS/KMUW) — For generations, Kansas schools have taught reading in ways that don’t work for many kids. That’s starting to change. The Kansas News Service reports that some lawmakers want to ban old methods and fast-track the new science of reading in Kansas classrooms. Kansas wants schools to dump the old method in favor of what’s known as “the science of reading.” It’s a body of research that calls for schools to focus on the building blocks of words. At the Fundamental Learning Center in Wichita, a nonprofit private school for children with reading disabilities, teachers use an approach called Alphabetic Phonics, which is supported by decades of brain research. (Read more.)
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Chiefs' All-Pro DT Chris Jones Absent for Start of Mandatory Minicamp
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones was absent from the start of the Kansas City Chiefs' mandatory three-day minicamp Tuesday. Jones is entering the final year of his contract with the Super Bowl champions. Chiefs coach Andy Reid is not expected to speak until Thursday, and the Chiefs did not make anyone else available to discuss Jones’ absence. If it is unexcused, Jones could be fined as much as $98,753 under terms of the collective bargaining agreement. He is coming off perhaps his best season with 15 1/2 sacks to match a career high before getting two more in the playoffs. Jones signed an $80 million, four-year deal in 2020.
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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 and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on Twitter.