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Headlines for Wednesday, October 4, 2023

A colorful graphic depicting stylized radios with the words "Kansas Public Radio News Summary" written on top.
Emily DeMarchi
/
KPR

Kansas Man Accused in Rape and Murder of 5-Year-Old Girl in Topeka

TOPEKA, Kan. (KC Star / TCJ) — Topeka police say a 25-year-old man has been arrested for the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl. Officers responded to a medical call Monday evening at a gas station (at 2010 S.E. 29th Street) in southeast Topeka. The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. The Kansas City Star reports that the child was identified as Zoey Felix, of Topeka. Investigators determined her death was suspicious and identified a suspect. The man, who investigators say knew the girl, was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County jail on suspicion of first-degree of felony murder and rape of a child. The Topeka Capital-Journal has identified the suspect as Mickel Cherry. He's being held on $2 million bond.

(Additional reporting...)

DCF Under Fire in Case of 5-Year-Old Topeka Girl Who Was Raped and Murdered

TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - An investigation is underway in Topeka following the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl. Neighbors say they reported neglect prior to the child's death but the state failed to respond. Five year old Zoey Felix would often roam her neighborhood unattended. She wasn’t in school and neighbors say she had to take care of herself. The state’s foster care system had multiple calls about Felix but neighbors say the agency never helped. Felix was kicked out of her house along with other relatives, and the Topeka Capital-Journal reported that she lived at a campsite.

The secretary of the Department for Children and Families, Laura Howard, said in a hearing with lawmakers Wednesday that state law prevents her from offering details. But she says the agency will work with law enforcement to investigate the death. “So, I actually do not have the legal ability to say anything in a public setting," she said.

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Former KCK Police Detective Facing Corruption Charges Hospitalized

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCUR) - Roger Golubski, the former Kansas City, Kansas, detective accused of decades of corruption, was hospitalized late Tuesday. Golubski was temporarily released from his electronic monitoring device so he could get medical treatment. During his first court appearance in September 2022, Golubski’s attorney said he was very ill. He had heart bypass surgery last year and takes four insulin shots a day for his diabetes. Golubski has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of sexual assault, kidnapping and protecting a notorious KCK drug dealer who was running a sex trafficking operation. No trial date is set yet - and Golubski’s victims fear his poor health means that it will never happen.

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Kansas Looks for New KanCare Providers

TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Bidding is now open for contractors vying to run the Kansas Medicaid program. Those chosen will oversee health care for hundreds of thousands of Kansans starting in 2025. Nearly $4 billion is at stake in the KanCare renegotiation process. Officials will select three organizations to manage health care for more than 400,000 Kansans who are low-income, elderly or disabled. Lacey Kennett, with the advocacy group Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, says state listening sessions highlighted shortcomings with the current system. “A lot of the KanCare members voiced a need for increased access to behavioral and mental health care," she said. It’s the first time a Democrat will oversee bidding since former Republican Governor Sam Brownback privatized Medicaid a decade ago. Last year, the GOP-controlled Legislature pushed back the process by one year, but Democratic Governor Laura Kelly won reelection. Bidding closes in January and officials will announce KanCare contractor awards in April. The three organizations that currently run the program are expected to reapply, along with at least one new applicant.

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13 Victims Sue Former Johnson County High School Teacher Who Filmed Girls Changing

JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KC Star) - Another lawsuit has been filed against a former Johnson County teacher and choir director who pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting students at the Catholic school where he worked for more than two decades. Last Friday, 13 victims and their parents filed a joint lawsuit against 47-year-old Joseph Heidesch, who pleaded guilty to secretly filming students changing at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, which was also named as a defendant. In June, a Johnson County District Court judge sentenced Heidesch to five years and eight months in prison. The Kansas City Star reports that between 2016 and 2021, Heidesch recorded and saved hundreds of videos that showed at least 25 victims either getting undressed, or in some cases, nude.

The suit accuses Heidesch, who worked at the school for 22 years, of “a continuing and pervasive scheme for the purpose of his own sexual arousal and gratification as a child sexual predator.” Heidesch is currently being held at Winfield Correctional Facility in south-central Kansas.

The victims listed in Friday’s lawsuit span Johnson and Leavenworth counties in Kansas and Jackson County, Missouri. All are female. All were minors at the time of the crime, and all were members of the school choir when it was under Heidesch’s direction. The victims and their parents in the lawsuit said Heidesch, as an educator, was trusted to provide “a safe educational environment.” Instead, Heidesch required all students to change into choir robes in his private office as part of his choir class. Unbeknownst to the students, he also installed a video camera in his office where he recorded students undressing. Among other things, the lawsuit accuses the teacher and school of negligence and invasion of privacy.

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Number of Children's Gun Deaths Nearly Doubles in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (KCUR) — In the last five years, the number of children killed by guns in Kansas has nearly doubled. The most recent data from the State Child Death Review Board covers 2017 through 2021. The report says that in 2021, more children ages zero to 17 died from guns than from motor vehicle accidents. Guns deaths were almost evenly split between homicides and suicides. The annual report found the highest number of gun deaths in the state was in Wyandotte County. The Child Death Review Board made no recommendations about cutting gun homicides in Kansas but did recommend more accessibility to crisis services and mental health services to help prevent suicides.

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Audit: Some Kansas Schools Not Following Rules on Funding

TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Some Kansas lawmakers say schools aren’t following rules for spending money set aside to help students at risk of failing academically. A legislative audit says some districts used money earmarked for at-risk students to pay teacher salaries or for general programs. Others bought televisions and other items forbidden by state law. Representative Kristey Williams told a meeting of the state Department of Education that Republican lawmakers may look at penalties for schools or reconsider extra funding for high-poverty districts. “As more money is going into the system, specifically for the students that need it most, something is not working. And the outcomes are declining," she said. The legislative audit concluded some schools misspent millions of dollars in state funding.

Auditor Heidi Zimmerman told a legislative committee that the state Department of Education hasn’t fixed problems highlighted in an earlier report. “We noted all of these same issues in 2019, when we did the audit a few years ago. And none of the recommendations we made at that time have been adequately implemented. So, all of these problems still exist," she said. State education officials say most districts are complying with state law.

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Kansas on Track for $2.6 Billion State Revenue Surplus, $1.6 Billion Stash in Rainy-Day Fund

TOPEKA, Kan. (KAKE) — State budget director Adam Proffitt says Kansas is on track to meet revenue projections necessary to create a $2.6 billion surplus in the current fiscal year and to reinforce the state’s financial position with $1.6 billion in a rainy-day fund. KAKE TV reports that Proffitt spoke Tuesday at Washburn University’s economic outlook conference. The Kansas Legislature meets in January to craft a new state budget and lawmakers are certain to propose major tax cuts. Governor Laura Kelly has tax-cutting ideas of her own. She's urging the Republican-led Legislature to reduce property taxes and grocery sales taxes. GOP leaders in the House and Senate are pushing for a flat income tax to replace the state’s three-bracket system based on income levels. Kelly remains opposed to the flat tax idea. The governor is also pushing to spend more money on special education needs in public schools and to expand Medicaid.

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Standoff Ends with Man in Custody, He's Accused of Assaulting Woman in Her KC Home

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KC Star) — A police standoff ended after several hours Tuesday morning, when a man accused of assaulting a woman in her home was taken into custody. Officers were called around 4 am to a domestic violence assault (in the 3600 block of East 46th Terrace). A woman told police a man assaulted her in her home. Police identified the man and found he had an unrelated felony warrant and may have been armed. Because he may have been armed, police backed off and surrounded the home so he couldn’t escape. The Kansas City Star reports that the male suspect exited the home about five hours later and was taken into custody. The investigation into the domestic assault is ongoing.

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Feds Award Grants to Short-Line Kansas Railroads

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) — The federal government has awarded $47 million in funding to two, short-line railroad companies in Kansas as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. KSNT reports that the Federal Railroad Administration is investing $1.4 billion into rail projects in three dozen states. Governor Laura Kelly announced that Watco Railroad in Pittsburg and the South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad in Neodesha were selected to receive the funds. Watco will use the money to convert eight trains to battery-power. The railroad officials say the move will improve service and reduce carbon emissions. South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad will use its grant to replace tracks and improve other infrastructure.

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Mississippi River Running Low Affects Midwest Farmers

UNDATED (HPM) - The Mississippi River is running low, due to a drought sweeping most of the Midwest. It’s the second year in a row the river has been low during the fall harvest season - when many crops are shipped downstream for international export. Mike Welvaert is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service based in Minnesota. “We really need more precipitation and if we don’t get it, we could be looking at prolonged low water all through the winter months that might not turn around until we get to our spring melt period," he said. Welvaert says recent rain in the upper basin is helpful, but it’s mostly replenishing soil moisture, lakes and other smaller bodies of water.

The Mississippi River gives U.S. farmers a huge advantage over other countries because it costs a lot less to ship corn and soybeans on the river compared to trucks or rail. But the river is much less efficient when water levels drop, like right now. Mike Steenhoek, the executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, says the fall harvest is when the vast majority of soybeans are exported. "It’s game time in agriculture and we need our supply chain to be firing on all cylinders and unfortunately that’s not occurring right now," he said. Steenhoek says some soybeans and other agricultural products will still float down the river, but farmers will have to find other places to store or sell their crop.

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Kansas Senator Jerry Moran Optimistic About Federal Spending Plan

WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW) — Kansas Senator Jerry Moran remains optimistic that lawmakers can reach a long-term deal to fund the federal government. Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown over the weekend, approving a stop-gap bill that funds the government through November 17th. Speaking Tuesday in Wichita, Moran said that's a good sign. “Sometimes Kansans say, ‘shut her down; it doesn’t matter,’ but I can remember the last long shutdown, in which hundreds of millions of dollars of airplanes were sitting on these runways," he said. Moran’s comments came during a visit this week to an expanding aircraft components manufacturer in Wichita. He also spoke of the need for Congress to confirm a new director for the Federal Aviation Administration. A hearing on President Joe Biden’s nominee is scheduled for today (WED).

Federal lawmakers are currently working on two pieces of business crucial to the aviation industry in Kansas. One of them is confirming a new FAA director. The other is consideration of a $107 billion-dollar piece of bipartisan legislation that would bolster FAA facilities, technology, safety and research.

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Things to Know About Resignation of Kansas Police Chief Who Led Raid on Small Town Newspaper

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas police chief who led an August raid on a small weekly newspaper seemed to have the support of most city leaders in the weeks since the search, despite public outcry and calls for his resignation. But that changed quickly once details began emerging about Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody's conduct. Cody was suspended Thursday, the same day a television station reported that he asked a local restaurant owner to delete text messages. Then body camera video of the Aug. 11 search of the Marion County Record was released — and it appeared to show Cody looking at a reporter's investigative file about him. Emails about the raid also emerged. By Monday, he resigned. The raid on the paper, along with related searches of the homes of its publisher and a City Council member, put the town of 1,900 residents at the center of a national debate over press freedoms. The raids also focused an intense spotlight on Cody's motives because the paper had been looking into his past. Here are the latest details:

THE RESTAURANT OWNER: 'I FOOLISHLY DID IT'
On the day Cody was suspended, Kansas City television station KSHB aired a story based on an interview with local restaurant owner Kari Newell. She said that after the raids, Cody asked her to delete text messages between them, fearing people could get wrong ideas about their relationship, which she said was professional and platonic. "I foolishly did it and immediately did have regrets," she told The Associated Press on Monday.

Newell said she spoke September 26 with a Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent who was newly assigned to look into Cody's conduct. The next day, she told City Administrator Brogan Jones that information about the texts would be coming out. Asked about the meeting, Jones said in an email, "Yes she came in and voiced her concerns." Cody did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment about his resignation and responses to Newell's statements. Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield also declined to discuss the resignation, calling it a personnel matter.

THE JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RAIDS
In internal police reports and applications to a judge for search warrants, Cody said he had evidence of crimes involving the circulation of information about Newell's driving record. She owns two Marion restaurants and obtained the City Council's backing for a state liquor license for one of them August 1. She has acknowledged having a past misdemeanor drunken driving offense and also that she did not have a valid driver's license for years, though it has been reinstated. A former friend gave the newspaper and City Council member Ruth Herbel copies of a letter from the state to Newell about reinstating her license, and she texted an electronic copy to Jones. The Record obtained the letter and verified its authenticity through an online state database, using the driver's license number and date of birth for Newell, which were contained in the document. Publisher Eric Meyer told Cody via email that the paper got the document from a source it did not name. That was August 4. Newell said that on August 7, Cody contacted her and told her he believed she had been the victim of a crime.

GETTING THE STATE INVOLVED
Emails obtained by The AP through an open records request show that also on Aug. 7, Cody emailed Jones to suggest they discuss the matter. In another email, sent to the local prosecutor, he outlined what he thought the evidence was showing, giving it the subject line, "Crimes?" That prosecutor would later say there wasn't enough evidence to justify the raids. On August 8, Cody emailed the KBI's office in Wichita. Within an hour, Special Agent Todd Leeds replied that he was forwarding the matter to the special agent in charge for her review.

Two days later, Leeds emailed Cody and asked him for the cellphone numbers, Facebook account names and email addresses for Newell, Newell's former friend, Herbel, Meyer, and Record reporter Phyllis Zorn. "I am getting a case opened up today," Leeds wrote. That evening, Leeds sent Marion Police Officer Zach Hudlin an email about a search warrant for Meyer's home. "Did you guys execute this today?" Leeds asked. No, Hudlin replied, though the warrant would be executed the next day. Meyer lived at the home with his 98-year-old mother, Joan, the paper's co-owner, who died the day after the raid. He blames stress caused by the raid for her death. The KBI has declined to discuss the details of its investigation. Its spokesperson did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment about the emails.

POLICE BODY CAMERA VIDEO
Video from the August 11 raid on the newspaper office, from Hudlin's body camera, shows him looking through the desk of reporter Deb Gruver, who had been looking into anonymous tips about why Cody retired as a police captain in Kansas City, Missouri, in April, just before he became Marion's chief. The AP obtained the video through an open records request. The video shows Hudlin beckoning Cody over to look at the contents of a desk drawer, and Cody is heard saying, "Keep a personal file on me. I don't care." But Hudlin's clipboard blocks all but the briefest view of Cody bending over the drawer. There is no video of that moment from Cody's own body camera. An AP analysis of the video from both Cody's and Hudlin's body cameras shows that Cody left the newspaper office to go to Herbel's home, then returned. The video shows him turning off his bodycam when he's done talking to Herbel, about 20 minutes before the search of Gruver's desk. Other video from both bodycams show Cody interviewing Zorn, the reporter, in the Recorder newsroom, suggesting that she could face legal problems and hinting that she could implicate Meyer for directing what she did. She remains poker-faced throughout. At one point, he tells her, "You're a smart girl." Later he adds, "I want you to take care of you."

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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. You can also follow KPR News on Twitter.