UPDATE: Missouri Man Arrested in Weekend Mass Shooting in Wichita's Old Town
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) — Wichita Police have arrested a 31-year-old Missouri man in connection with the Wichita nightclub shooting that injured nine people. KWCH TV reports that Brandon Young, of Florissant, Missouri, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery. Police say gunfire rang out early Sunday morning at the City Nightz club in the Old Town section of Wichita. The shooting injured seven people. Two more people were injured from being trampled. Police say Young was working as a security guard for the rapper “Mozzy,” who was at the nightclub following a concert.
Investigators believe more than one person is responsible for the shooting. No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the shooting. Police say at least four guns were fired during the shooting. City Nightz has metal detectors, but it appears improper screening at the nightclub allowed several guns to get inside.
(–Earlier Reporting–)
Police Confirm Two Additional Wichita Club Shooting Victims, Bringing Total to 11 Injured
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two additional gunshot victims have emerged from a weekend shooting at a Kansas nightclub, bringing the total number of injured people to 11, Wichita police said Monday. Meanwhile, a St. Louis-area man was arrested in connection with the shooting, and police are working to “identify all individuals involved in the shooting and hold them accountable,” according to a news release. Several shooters opened fire just before 1 a.m. Sunday inside the City Nightz club in downtown Wichita, according to police. Seven people were initially listed as injured by gunfire, and two others were trampled in the rush to escape.
Two additional shooting victims arrived at hospitals later Sunday with minor injuries, Officer Juan Rebolledo said. All of the victims are expected to survive, he said. One suspect, a 31-year-old man from Florissant, Missouri, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated criminal battery. He had not been formally charged as of late Monday morning. Shots were fired from at least four guns inside the club, police said. Four guns were recovered and police were working to determine if they were the weapons used by the shooters. The gunshot victims — seven men and two women — ranged in age from 22 to 34, police said. The two people trampled were a 30-year-old woman and a 31-year-old male.
Detective Chris Merceau said at a news conference Sunday morning that police have been called about a dozen times this year to the nightclub, including for a report of aggravated battery and a drive-by shooting on May 21. He said police met with the club's owner after the May shooting and discussed the importance of using electronic wands to detect weapons on patrons and surveillance cameras. He said investigators will work to determine if any of those recommendations were followed.
The club has not returned messages left by The Associated Press.
Wichita Nightclub Shooting Wounds Seven; Two Others Trampled
WICHITA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — Seven people were injured by gunfire at a Wichita nightclub. Two others were hospitalized after being trampled in a rush for the exits. Wichita police say the shooting happened early Sunday morning when several shooters opened fire inside the City Nightz club. No one was killed but one person was critically injured. All victims were treated at area hospitals. One suspect was taken into custody.
Shots were fired from at least four guns inside the club. Police recovered four guns and were working to determine if they were the weapons used by the shooters. The gunshot victims included five men between the ages of 21 and 34, a 21-year-old woman and a 24-year-old woman. The two people trampled were a 30-year-old woman and a 31-year-old male. Police say they have been called to the nightclub about a dozen times this year for various incidents, including a report of aggravated battery and a drive-by shooting.
The shootings were part of a particularly violent night in Wichita. A 17-year-old boy was found dead Saturday night. Investigators say it appears he was shot during an argument with a 21-year-old man, who showed up at a hospital with a gunshot wound to his hand. About twenty minutes after the shootings at City Nightz on Sunday morning, a 35-year-old man was walking down a road when an unknown suspect shot him in the arm.
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Four Hurt in Fireworks Fire in Johnson County
DE SOTO, Kan. (WDAF) — Rescue crews dragged four people out of a burning building where fireworks were exploding in rural Johnson County late Saturday night. Two of those people were seriously hurt. All of them were hospitalized. WDAF TV reports that firefighters responded to an out-building fire (at 127th St. and Gardner Rd.) in Lexington Township around 10:15 pm. When crews arrived, fireworks were actively exploding in the burning building and victims were on the ground. Responders pulled the victims to safety. According to the Kansas State Fire Marshal, the building is a complete loss. It's still unclear what led up to the explosive fire.
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Massive Retail Crime Wave Washes over Wichita
New York (CNN/KPR) — Authorities say a Victoria’s Secret store in Wichita has lost $30,000 a month to theft. A Cabela’s store in Wichita has reportedly lost more merchandise than any other Cabela's in the nation. CNN reports that a pattern of serious planned and brazen heists has retailers on edge across the nation. In cities like San Francisco, retailers are closing up shop altogether. Kansas Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach says retail crime is a “spiraling problem” in the state. He says Kansas and Missouri are among the top 10 states in the nation for the volume of retail crime. Kansas lost approximately $642 million in stolen goods in 2021, he said. “People are frustrated. Store employees are frustrated,” he said in an interview with CNN. In Kansas, Kobach says one scourge is fueling another: drugs, especially fentanyl addiction. “There is a link between drug trafficking and organized retail crime,” Kobach told lawmakers in June. “Organized retail crime is a problem that is getting worse, not better.
Wichita police chief Joe Sullivan, who heads up the largest police department in Kansas, in April provided some startling numbers on escalating retail crime in the state's largest city, which is home to approximately 400,000 residents. Speaking at an event with the Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners, Sullivan said stores of some popular retail chains in Wichita are among the worst hit, nationally, by retail theft.
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Drought Dries Up Pastures; Hay Now in High Demand Across Midwest
UNDATED (HPM) — Drought across the Midwest and the Great Plains means pastures aren’t as green as usual, leaving cattle with less to eat. Harvest Public Media reports that hay is now in high demand and low supply. Producers usually feed hay to their cattle in the winter when grass is dormant, but drought means they’re turning to hay now. And hay supplies are at low levels in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Chris Chinn says the drought is forcing farmers to make some hard decisions. "Feeding hay in June really eats into your hay supply for the winter months. And so we're starting to see a lot of cattle go to market because farmers and ranchers know they don't have enough feed supply to get them through 'til next spring when the grass hopefully starts growing again," she said. Missouri is allowing farmers to cut and harvest hay from almost 700 acres at state parks. More than 400 acres have been contracted so far.
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Federal Appeals Court: Midwest Farmers Owed Damages for River Flooding
UNDATED (HPM) — A federal appeals court ruled farmers in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas should be compensated for flooding on the Missouri River. Harvest Public Media reports that the ruling comes in a lawsuit that started nearly ten years ago. In 2004, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers changed its management strategy on the Missouri River to include wildlife protections. Nearly 400 farmers say that caused flooding starting in 2007. They argue the government basically took their land, and they want to be paid for their property and for their flooded crops. A federal appeals court agreed, ruling the government violated the Fifth Amendment.
Farmers sued the government after the Corps changed its river management strategy. Farmers say protections for wildlife caused consistent flooding on their properties. Nearly 400 plaintiffs are part of the lawsuit. Seth Wright, an attorney for the farmers, says it’s a step forward. "Our clients are frustrated. It's been a decade and a half since we have had the first flood. And so, they've been waiting a long time to be compensated for these losses," he said. The case will return to a trial court to decide damage amounts for the farmers, unless the government decides to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department, whose lawyers are representing the Corps, says they’re reviewing the court’s decision and considering next steps.
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KC Man Drowns at Lake of the Ozarks
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC) — Missouri authorities say a 56-year-old Kansas City man drowned over the weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, James D. Roy disappeared into the water Sunday night. He was last seen near a moored vessel at Bollinger Creek Cove. It's unknown how he entered the water. KMBC TV reports Roy's body was found several hours later at Mimosa Beach. Authorities say his body was discovered without a life jacket or other flotation device.
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FHSU Offers Courses on Victim Advocacy
HAYS, Kan. (KNS) — Fort Hays State University is offering training to make businesses more welcoming environments for survivors of gender-based violence. Fort Hays State is creating a 10-credit hour program that includes business classes with courses on victim advocacy. Up to 60% of abuse survivors lose their job because of the trauma of the relationship. Megan Shepard was abused in a past relationship. She said keeping her job was an important lifeline. “Moving away from that area kind of just changed my whole outlook, you know, it just made my situation better. Made a better situation for my children," she said. Victims of abuse are also less productive at work. They can be seen as unproductive and get passed up for raises or promotions. Creators of the program hope the new courses make businesses think twice about why someone is struggling on the job.
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Topeka Democrat Plans to Challenge GOP Congressman
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/TCJ) — A Topeka Democrat says he'll challenge Kansas Republican Congressman Jake LaTurner. Elgin "Eli" Woody IV launched his campaign for the state's 2nd congressional seat Saturday with a speech at Lake Shawnee. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Woody is a former teacher and political newcomer; he currently works at the National Speech and Debate Association.
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Massive Marijuana Farm Raided in Southeast Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — Law enforcement officials uncovered a massive illegal marijuana-growing operation in Bourbon County last week. The KBI seized more than 13-hundred (1350) marijuana plans near the town of Bronson. Authorities say that's about $7 million worth of weed. Firearms and a vehicle were also seized. One suspect on site during the raid fled the scene. The KBI, Kansas Highway Patrol and the Bourbon and Allen County Sheriff's Offices all participated in the investigation.
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Kansas Residents Resist Solar Project Plan Near Cheyenne Bottoms
GREAT BEND, Kan. (KPR) — Green energy keeps growing. In Kansas, plans continue to pop up for even more wind and solar projects. But some residents in central Kansas have put one solar idea on hold. A Spanish company hopes to build a massive solar farm south of the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Refuge near Great Bend. In May, the Barton County Commission put a moratorium on all solar farm projects. Commissioners say they want to weigh the pros and cons of the project. Many residents and bird watchers say the 2.5 square-mile solar farm would disrupt wildlife, including the flight patterns of migratory birds that use the refuge to rest and feed every year.
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Maternal Deaths in the US More than Doubled over Two Decades
UNDATED (AP) – Maternal deaths across the U.S. more than doubled over the course of two decades, and the tragedy unfolded unequally. Black mothers died at the nation’s highest rates, while the largest increases in deaths were found in American Indian and Native Alaskan mothers. And some states — and racial or ethnic groups within them – fared worse than others. The findings were laid out in a new study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers looked at maternal deaths between 1999 and 2019 — but not the pandemic spike — for every state and five racial and ethnic groups.
“It’s a call to action to all of us to understand the root causes — to understand that some of it is about health care and access to health care, but a lot of it is about structural racism and the policies and procedures and things that we have in place that may keep people from being healthy,” said Dr. Allison Bryant, one of the study's authors and a senior medical director for health equity at Mass General Brigham.
Among wealthy nations, the U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality, which is defined as a death during pregnancy or up to a year afterward. Common causes include excessive bleeding, infection, heart disease, suicide and drug overdose. Bryant and her colleagues at Mass General Brigham and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington started with national vital statistics data on deaths and live births. They then used a modeling process to estimate maternal mortality out of every 100,000 live births. Overall, they found rampant, widening disparities. The study showed high rates of maternal mortality aren't confined to the South but also extend to regions like the Midwest and states such as Wyoming and Montana, which had high rates for multiple racial and ethnic groups in 2019.
Researchers also found dramatic jumps when they compared maternal mortality in the first decade of the study to the second, and identified the five states with the largest increases between those decades. Those increases exceeded:
— 162% for American Indian and Alaska Native mothers in Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Rhode Island and Wisconsin;
— 135% for white mothers in Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee;
— 105% for Hispanic mothers in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Tennessee;
— 93% for Black mothers in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey and Texas;
— 83% for Asian and Pacific Islander mothers in Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and Missouri.
“I hate to say it, but I was not surprised by the findings. We’ve certainly seen enough anecdotal evidence in a single state or a group of states to suggest that maternal mortality is rising,” said Dr. Karen Joynt Maddox, a health services and policy researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis who wasn’t involved in the study. “It’s certainly alarming, and just more evidence we have got to figure out what’s going on and try to find ways to do something about this.”
Maddox pointed to how, compared with other wealthy nations, the U.S. underinvests in things like social services, primary care and mental health. She also said Missouri hasn't funded public health adequately and, during the years of the study, hadn't expanded Medicaid. They've since expanded Medicaid — and lawmakers passed a bill giving new mothers a full year of Medicaid health coverage. Last week, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed budget bills that included $4.4 million for a maternal mortality prevention plan. In neighboring Arkansas, Black women are twice as likely to have pregnancy-associated deaths as white women, according to a 2021 state report. Dr. William Greenfield, the medical director for family health at the Arkansas Department of Health, said the disparity is significant and has “persisted over time,” and that it's hard to pinpoint exactly why there was an increase in the state's maternal mortality rate for Black mothers. Rates among Black women have long been the worst in the nation, and the problem affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. For example, U.S. Olympic champion sprinter Tori Bowie, 32, died from complications of childbirth in May.
The pandemic likely exacerbated all of the demographic and geographic trends, Bryant said, and “that’s absolutely an area for future study.” According to preliminary federal data, maternal mortality fell in 2022 after rising to a six-decade high in 2021 — a spike experts attributed mainly to COVID-19. Officials said the final 2022 rate is on track to get close to the pre-pandemic level, which was still the highest in decades. Bryant said it’s crucial to understand more about these disparities to help focus on community-based solutions and understand what resources are needed to tackle the problem. Arkansas already is using telemedicine and is working on several other ways to increase access to care, said Greenfield, who is also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock and was not involved in the study. The state also has a “perinatal quality collaborative,” a network to help health care providers understand best practices for things like reducing cesarean sections, managing complications with hypertensive disorders and curbing injuries or severe complications related to childbirth.
“Most of the deaths we reviewed and other places have reviewed … were preventable,” Greenfield said.
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Big 12 Getting Bigger with Four New Schools Coming on Board
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) — The Big 12 conference is getting bigger. Brigham Young, the University of Cincinnati, University of Houston and the University of Central Florida officially joined the conference Saturday. Nearly two years ago, the Big 12 voted to expand the league. The Big 12 will play the upcoming season with 14 teams before Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC in 2024.
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Royals Start a Mini-Winning Streak!
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KPR) — The Kansas City Royals clobbered the LA Dodgers 9-1 Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won the weekend series 2 to 1. It's the first time they've won a series since May. It may be too early to say the Royals are on a roll, but two wins in a row is an encouraging sign. Kansas City takes on the Twins Monday in Minnesota.
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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.