Missouri Man Executed for Abduction, Killing of 6-Year-Old Girl
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP/KPR) — A Missouri man who abducted and beat a 6-year-old girl to death at an abandoned factory two decades ago has been executed. Authorities say 45-year-old Johnny Johnson received a lethal injection Tuesday evening at a state prison in Bonne Terre. He was convicted of killing Casey Williamson in July 2002. Authorities say Johnson led the girl to an abandoned factory where he tried to sexually assault her before fatally beating her. The U.S. Supreme Court, with three justices dissenting, rejected a late defense request for a stay. Johnson's lawyers had contended he was mentally incompetent to be executed. The inmate expressed remorse in a handwritten statement released earlier in the day.
Among those witnessing Johnson's execution were several members of the girl's family and the former prosecutor and police investigator who handled his case. The U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor and two other justices dissenting, rejected a late request to stay the execution. In recent appeals, Johnson's attorneys have said the inmate has had delusions about the devil using his death to bring about the end of the world.
"The Court today paves the way to execute a man with documented mental illness before any court meaningfully investigates his competency to be executed," Sotomayor and the other dissenting justices wrote in a statement when the stay was rejected. "There is no moral victory in executing someone who believes Satan is killing him to bring about the end of the world."
Former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch called the delusions "nonsense" and said Johnson inflicted "unspeakable horrors" upon Casey. "He's got some issues — significant issues," McCulloch said moments before witnessing the execution. But "he knew exactly what he was doing."
The girl's disappearance from her hometown of Valley Park on July 26, 2002, had set off a frantic search before her body was found. Casey's mother had been best friends in childhood with Johnson's older sister and even helped babysit him. After Johnson attended a barbecue the night before the killing, Casey's family let him sleep on a couch in the home where they also were sleeping. In the morning, Johnson lured the girl — still in her nightgown — to the abandoned glass factory, even carrying her on his shoulders on the walk to the dilapidated site, according to court documents. When he tried to sexually assault her, Casey screamed and tried to break free. He killed her with a brick and a large rock, then washed off in the nearby Meramec River. Johnson confessed that same day to the crimes, according to authorities. "It was more violent and brutal than any case I've ever seen," said former St. Louis County homicide investigator Paul Neske, who questioned Johnson at length the day of Casey's murder and witnessed his execution.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson on Monday denied a request to reduce Johnson's sentence to life in prison. The execution was the 16th in the U.S. this year, including three previously in Missouri, five in Texas, four in Florida, two in Oklahoma and one in Alabama.
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Lawrence, Topeka Voters Narrow the Field in Local Elections
LAWRENCE, Kan. (LJW/KPR) — In Tuesday's local primary election, Lawrence voters narrowed the field from eight to six candidates in the race for three available seats on the city commission. The Lawrence Journal World reports that all three incumbent commissioners whose terms are expiring this year — Brad Finkeldei, Amber Sellers and Courtney Shipley — received enough votes to move on to the general election, but former commissioner, Mike Dever, garnered the most votes. Dever served on the commission from 2007 to 2015 with two terms as mayor and now works as an environmental consultant. Current Lawrence school board member Shannon Kimball and newcomer Ariel Miner will be competing for a two-year term on the Lawrence school board in November. In Topeka’s race for the district six seat on the City Council, Marcus D.L. Miller received the most votes in yesterday's primary. He will face Craig Dunstan in the gen election in November.
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Voters Cast Ballots in Several Johnson County Communities
OLATHE, Kan. (KC Star) — In Johnson County, two Prairie Village City Council candidates advanced to the November election. The Kansas City Star reports that challenger Lori Sharp was the top vote getter followed by incumbent Bonnie Limbird. They will compete in the general election for the Ward 3 seat. In Overland Park, incumbent City Councilwoman Holly Grummert advanced to the general election, along with candidate Carol Merritt. They advance to the November election to compete for the 1st Ward seat. And in Olathe, incumbent Councilman Wes McCoy lost his primary race, while challengers Matthew Schoonover, and Wayne Janner were the top two vote winners and will advance to the general election.
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Wichita Mayor Whipple to Face Challenger Lily Wu in November Election
WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW) — In Wichita, former TV reporter Lily Wu will run against incumbent Mayor Brandon Whipple in November’s general election. Wu and Whipple were the two candidates with the most votes in Tuesday's primary election. Wu has received backing from many members of the Wichita business community. She’s also supported by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group funded by the Koch Foundation. Mayor Whipple also finished second during the 2019 primary but ultimately won in the general election. Fifteen percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the primary.
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Central Plains Voters Reject Proposal to Close School District
BARTON COUNTY, Kan. (KNS/KMUW) — A rural Kansas school district will continue to operate after voters rejected a plan to dissolve it. On Tuesday, voters in the Central Plains district near Great Bend voted no on a proposal to disband the district. Residents upset over the closing of Wilson High School pushed for the plan, which would have been a first for Kansas. They said new district boundaries would save school buildings and be better for students. Local educator Denise Schmidt says she’s relieved two-thirds of voters rejected the plan and preserved the district. “I am proud of how these communities came together," she said. "I’m proud that local control and local voice in education still matters.” Schmidt says residents in other rural districts are considering similar proposals.
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KC Area Companies Scramble as Yellow Corporation Heads into Bankruptcy
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) — Some local companies are scrambling after Yellow Corporation, a trucking company with a huge presence in Kansas City, shut down over the weekend. Yellow was based in Overland Park for most of its 99 years in business and maintained a major trucking terminal northwest of Arrowhead Stadium. It’s demise leaves nearly a thousand local employees out of work, and lots of local companies in a bind. That's according to Chris Gutierrez, President of KC Smart Port. "Anybody that's got product moving in a less than truckload capacity is gonna' be affected by this," he said. The affect could be softened by the fact that business for Yellow had been faltering recently. At least one local shipper had already switched away from Yellow after a bad experience months ago.
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Banking Executive Jeffrey Schmid Named President of Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Schmid, a former banking executive, has been appointed the next president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, beginning August 21. As president of one of the 12 regional Fed banks, Schmid will participate in the eight meetings the Fed holds each year to determine the path of short-term interest rates. Schmid is joining at a fraught time, as Fed officials are considering whether to lift their key interest rate for a 12th time in the past year and a half at their next meeting in September.
Another increase would be intended to combat inflation, which has fallen sharply from last summer's four-decade high. Too many rate hikes by the Fed could push the economy into recession.
Schmid will replace Esther George, who retired in January as required by mandatory retirement rules. While he will participate in meetings, Schmid won't have a vote on interest rate decisions until 2025, because the regional Fed presidents vote on a rotating basis, usually once every three years. George was generally a hawkish president, meaning she typically favored higher interest rates to keep inflation under control. “Dovish” Fed officials, by contrast, usually support lower rates to bolster growth and hiring. Historically, the president of the Kansas City Fed has tended toward hawkish views.
Fed policymakers have signaled they may support one more increase in the central bank's key rate, which is currently at about 5.4%, its highest level in 22 years. Most economists expect the Fed will forego another increase as inflation falls, but some think it could happen at the Fed's upcoming meetings in September or November.
As president of the Kansas City Fed, Schmid will also oversee bank regulation in his district, which includes Kansas, western Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Wyoming and northern New Mexico. Schmid is currently CEO of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking Foundation at Southern Methodist University, where he attended a summer residence program in 1990.
“Jeff’s perspective as a native Nebraskan, his broad experience in banking, and his deep roots in our region will be an incredible asset to the Federal Reserve, both as a leader of the organization and in his role as a monetary policymaker," said María Griego-Raby, deputy chair of the Kansas City Fed's board of directors. Griego-Raby led the search committee that selected Schmid.
Bankers serve on the boards of the regional Fed banks, but they are not allowed to participate in the selection of presidents, to limit the influence of the financial industry.
Schmid was CEO of Mutual of Omaha Bank from 2007-2019, and then became CEO of Susser Bank, a family-owned company in Dallas. He began his career as a bank examiner at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 1981, until becoming president of American National Bank in Omaha in 1989.
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Hot, Extreme Weather Continues with Summer Only Half Over
UNDATED (AP/KPR) — At about its halfway point, the record-breaking hot summer of 2023 is both unprecedented and unsurprising, featuring killer heat, deadly floods and choking smoke from wildfires. Scientists have been talking about this for a long time. But many of them are particularly worried about warming seawater. And there appears to be no relief in sight. Forecasters predict a hotter than normal August and September. Scientists say the extreme weather is mostly caused by climate change with a bit of help from El Nino.
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Police: Man Stabbed in Downtown Lawrence
LAWRENCE, Kan. (LJW) — Police say a man was injured in a stabbing Tuesday night in downtown Lawrence. Emergency crews responded to the intersection of Seventh and Vermont streets around 8:45 pm, where they found a person with two puncture wounds to the chest. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that one man was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. In a post on its Facebook page, the Lawrence Police Department said it believed a fight started between two men and one pulled a knife and stabbed the other. The post said that “Those involved are in police custody and known to each other,” and that the man who was stabbed “was not cooperative with first responders.”
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Another Bank Fails, this Time in Southwest Kansas
ELKHART, Kan. (ABA Banking Journal) — Another bank has failed, this time in southwest Kansas. On Friday, state regulators closed Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart and named the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC entered into an agreement with Dream First Bank in Syracuse, Kansas, to assume the failed bank’s $130 million in deposits and to purchase all of the bank’s assets. As part of the purchase, the FDIC agreed with Dream First to share losses and potential recoveries on the loans purchased from the failed bank. The ABA Banking Journal reports that this is the fourth bank failure of 2023 and the first community bank to fail this year. The failure is expected to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $54.2 million.
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Critics Attack Evergy's Plan to Raise Electric Rates
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Critics of Evergy’s plan to hike electricity rates in Kansas warn that higher prices would put the health of elderly people in danger. Evergy says its first increase to base rates in five years is less than the inflation over that time. But Wichita Democratic Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau urged the electricity company to look for ways to help retirees. She says people with fixed incomes can struggle to pay for cooling their homes. Monthly bills would jump about $14 for the average household in the company’s central Kansas region. Average monthly bills would increase about $3.50 for households in and near the Kansas City metro.
Retirees on fixed incomes are upset at Evergy’s proposal to hike rates. At a public hearing, Topeka resident Ella Dawson criticized the company for seeking to increase its annual revenue by more than $200 million. “So what kind of life are you setting for us senior citizens – who have given their whole entire life to the work environment? And we can’t afford to be stockholders. If we could, I would get into it. Buy me some of that stock and get that cash," she said.
Evergy paid out half a billion dollars in dividends last year. The company says its proposal will, in part, help it recover spending on power grid improvements.
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Winter Wheat Harvest Finished in Kansas; One of the Smallest Crops in Decades
UNDATED (Brownfield Ag News) — The winter wheat harvest in Kansas has finally wrapped up. The USDA says the vast majority of the crop is now in, about a month behind schedule. When the final figures are released, it's expected to be one of the smallest wheat crops in decades. Meanwhile, according to Brownfield Ag News, the Kansas corn crop is rated 50% good-to-excellent. Soybeans are rated 49% good-to-excellent.
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Kansas Farmers Didn’t Harvest Much Wheat This Season and It Continues to Rain
UNDATED (Brownfield Ag News) — A western Kansas farmer says drought destroyed his entire winter wheat crop and now, it won’t stop raining. Jim Sipes told Brownfield Ag News that the recent moisture was too little too late. “We’ve gone from having the driest three-year period of my lifetime to now having 20 inches of rain since May," he said. But, Sipes says, the rain has his "corn and sorghum crops in good shape, despite extreme weed pressure.”
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KU Football Player Suspended from Program After July Arrest
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KC Star) — A University of Kansas football offensive lineman has been suspended from the team. KU coach Lance Leipold announced on Tuesday that Joseph Krause has been suspended from the program. A KU Athletics spokesperson said that Krause has also been suspended from the university. Krause, who was arrested July 24th, is facing a felony threat charge following an alleged bomb threat that was called into the KU football complex. Krause is accused of “unlawfully, feloniously, and with the intent to place another in fear, or to cause the evacuation, lock down or disruption in regular, ongoing activities of any building, communicate a threat to commit violence.” The Kansas City Star reports that the Kansas football facilities were evacuated on Monday, July 24th following reports of a bomb threat. Damon Tucker, interim deputy chief of the University of Kansas Police Department, said that same evening that a “subject was identified and arrested for making the threats” and that an “all-clear” was issued for the Anderson Family Football Complex, Beatty Family Pavilion and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium just after 8 p.m.
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Man Arrested in Georgia for Deadly Hit and Run in Western Kansas
DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA. (KSNT) — A man was arrested in Douglas County, Georgia, for leaving the scene of an accident in Kansas that resulted in the death of a 57-year-old man and his 81-year-old father. KSNT reports that 26-year-old Paulo Ivan Garcia was arrested in connection to a case that originally happened in October 2019 in Grant County, Kansas. Garcia was identified as the driver of a semi-truck that failed to yield the right of way to the father-son duo. Garcia then stole a pickup truck from a witness and fled the scene. According to the U.S. Marshals Office, the pickup truck was later found abandoned. Garcia was also wanted for a federal supervised release violation from Wichita.
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KU, WSU Prepare for Construction of $300 Million Medical Campus in Downtown Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (LJW) — Construction on a $300 million medical campus in downtown Wichita should start in early 2024. That's according to officials from the University of Kansas and Wichita State University who spoke Tuesday following a vote by the Wichita City Council to approve the project’s location. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the joint facility will provide a new home for the Wichita branch of the KU School of Medicine, while also housing WSU programs for nursing and other health care professions. On Tuesday, Wichita council members agreed to sell or lease two tracts of land for use by the project.
The new medical campus will be built on a site that currently houses the Wichita Transit Center, which is being relocated. The property is generally catty-corner from the Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita. The universities estimate the center will house about 3,000 students and 200 faculty members. Wichita State President Rick Muma said the project will be one of the largest investments ever in downtown Wichita, and is expected to attract more health care companies to the area.
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Kansas Regulators Go After Landfill Beset by Complaints of Fires, Stench
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) — Kansas regulators have instructed a Leavenworth County landfill to stop accepting waste until further notice. The Kansas Reflector reports that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued a "cease and desist" letter to the landfill’s operator, Shawn Britz, outlining a series of problems. The landfill is already under scrutiny because of fires and environmental violations and now, state health officials want to shut it down. The letter says the facility, owned by Flat Land Excavating, poses a threat to public health.
The order comes after a fire and a series of violations by the landfill inspired outrage among some neighbors of the landfill in Easton, a small town west of Leavenworth. They said the smell from the landfill was “unbelievable” and complained repeatedly to the state that the facility was forming a massive waste heap before inspectors finally visited the site.
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A Community College in KC Teaches Students How to Grow Marijuana
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KC Star) — A community college in Kansas City is teaching students how to grow marijuana. The Kansas City Star reports that Metropolitan Community College has launched three new online classes to help jump-start careers in Missouri’s burgeoning marijuana industry.
MCC is partnering with a California-based company to offer three certificate programs that focus on different aspects of the pot industry: cannabis cultivation specialist, cannabis retail specialist and cannabis extraction & product development specialist. The program covers topics like the relationship between the cannabis plant and human biology, how different products are made, proper dosing and customer service.
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Transgender Former Student Sues Missouri School over Bathroom Use
PLATTE COUNTY, Mo. (AP/KPR) — A transgender former student sued a Missouri school district on Monday for forcing her to use the boys' bathrooms or the high school's only single-stall bathroom. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri sued Platte County R-3 School District on behalf of the transgender former student, who identifies as femail. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff is identified only as R.F. The former student received detention twice for using the girls' restroom, according to the lawsuit. She said a male classmate harassed her and threatened her with rape when she used the boys' bathroom. The lawsuit argues the school violated her rights by requiring her to use the bathroom that aligned with her sex assigned at birth (which was male) or the school's single-stall gender-neutral bathroom.
"Forcing transgender students to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex designated at birth is not only discrimination but dangerous and causes serious harm to Missouri's youth," said Gillian Wilcox, deputy director of litigation at the ACLU of Missouri, in a statement.
Superintendent Jay Harris said in a statement that the district is "in the early stages of evaluating the legal claims" but plans to provide more information soon. "The District's focus is, and has always been, providing a safe and caring environment for all students," Harris said.
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Kansas Population Predicted to Grow, but Slowly
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) — The population of Kansas is forecast to grow more slowly in the next 50 years than previously predicted, according to a new report. A Wichita State economic research center predicted the population of Kansas will grow on average about 0.3% annually in the next 50 years. Previous predictions estimated 0.4%. Several factors are slowing growth, including more competition for labor, the departure of retirees from Kansas and a changing fertility rate. Jeremy Hill, an economist at Wichita State University, says the area has had an outmigration of working age females. Meanwhile, the 65-and-up age group is expected to have the highest growth rate in Kansas. Minority populations are also expected to grow much more quickly than the white population.
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Shawnee County Deploying Goats to Manage Invasive Weeds in Parks
TOPEKA (KSNT) — Shawnee County Parks and Recreation is trying a new approach in the battle against invasive plants. KSNT reports that the city has imported 77 goats from Longton, west of Independence in southeast Kansas . The animals will be put to work eliminating weeds, bamboo and other invasive plants in the Lindbloom Park south of Lake Shawnee. The park features steep slopes that are difficult to manage with typical maintenance equipment. The department says the goats eat as much as 5% of their body weight in foliage every day while their feet aerate the soil, and their droppings are full of nutrients. The so-called “Warrior Goats” will be at work in Lindbloom Park through Thursday.
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Brain Fog and Other Long COVID Symptoms Become Focus of New Small Treatment Studies
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Institutes of Health is starting some studies to test possible treatments for long COVID. Millions of people re estimated to have the mysterious condition. The studies are small but each will tackle multiple possible therapies for things like brain fog, sleep disturbances and the theory that lingering virus may be at least partly to blame. The studies are part of the RECOVER project, which had to unravel what the most common and burdensome symptoms of long COVID are before doing studies.
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Chiefs and QB Patrick Mahomes Will Be Leaning on Untested Wide Receivers
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs allowed wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman to walk away in free agency, and in their place they signed a couple of relative unknowns while taking a gamble on an injury-prone talent and unproven draft pick. The expectation is that Patrick Mahomes can make it work, just as he has so many years before, but is that finally asking too much of the league’s MVP? The answer will play out this season as the Chiefs try to defend their Super Bowl. Kadarius Toney is already battling another injury, but players such as rookie Rashee Rice and second-year pro Justyn Ross have turned heads in training camp, and that is a reason for optimism.
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Sporting KC Advances to Leagues Cup Tourney
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) — Sporting Kansas City has advanced to the round-of-32 in the Leagues Cup Tournament, a matchup of teams in Major League Soccer against the top professional league from Mexico. Sporting did it with a 1-nil win over Chivas, Guadalajara. Sporting manager Peter Vermes says the win is a reflection of improved play in Major League Soccer. Sporting played without their leading scorer, Alan Pulido, who played for Chivas Guadalajara before signing a contract in Kansas City prior to the 2020 season. Pulido, who has 10 goals this year, was suspended after receiving a red card in Sporting’s previous Leagues Cup match at Cincinnati.
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KU Hires Longtime Basketball Coach Doc Sadler as Analyst for the Jayhawks
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Longtime college basketball coach Doc Sadler, who spent last year as a special advisor at Oklahoma, was hired Wednesday as an analyst at the University of Kansas, where he served as the director of basketball operations a decade ago. Sadler was a successful head coach in his own right, particularly at UTEP, which he led to the NCAA Tournament in 2005. That success earned him the top job at Nebraska, where he spent six seasons before he was fired in 2012. Sadler was hired by Jayhawks coach Bill Self for the following season, then departed again for an assistant job at Iowa State. He proceeded to spend five seasons leading Southern Miss before returning to the Huskers as an assistant coach. The 63-year-old Sadler also has coached at Arkansas, Lamar, Houston, Chicago State, Arkansas-Fort Smith, Texas Tech and Arizona State during a well-traveled 40-plus-year career. He got his start in college basketball with the Razorbacks as a student manager under Hall of Fame coach Eddie Sutton.
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Royals on a 4-Game Win Streak?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Josh Walker balked home the winning run in the 10th inning and the Kansas City Royals rallied past the New York Mets 7-6 for their season-best fourth straight victory. Hours after the retooling Mets traded star pitcher Justin Verlander and two other players to cap a stunning deadline selloff, they blew a 6-4 lead provided by rookie Francisco Álvarez's two-run homer in the top of the 10th. Bobby Witt Jr. hit an RBI double in the bottom half and MJ Melendez tied it with a run-scoring single off Brooks Raley. Following a two-out throwing error by rookie third baseman Brett Baty, Melendez scored when Walker balked with the bases loaded. Pete Alonso hit his 31st homer for the Mets and added an RBI single.
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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 amweekdays and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. You can also follow KPR News on Twitter.