TOPEKA – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt will convene a working group to gather input on recent changes made by the Kansas legislature affecting both the concealed and open carrying of firearms.
Schmidt has invited interested parties, including groups representing Kansas counties and municipalities, private businesses and gun owners, to attend a meeting on signage issues surrounding implementation on Wednesday, May 28 at 3 p.m. in Memorial Hall in Topeka. The meeting will be open to the public.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The victim in a fatal weekend shooting in Topeka has been identified as a Wichita woman who had been married just hours earlier.
Police on Tuesday released the identity of 42-year-old Tiffany Davenport-Ray. She was shot about 1:30 a.m. Sunday at an intersection south of downtown Topeka and died several hours later at a hospital.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder had his bond set at $1 million during a court appearance Tuesday. Police said earlier that officers who responded to the shooting also found a traffic accident had occurred.
A friend of the victim told the Capital-Journal that Davenport-Ray had lived in Wichita for the past 10 years working at Beechcraft and had just returned to Topeka for her wedding Saturday.
TOPEKA, Kan-About 40 Kansas children joined Governor Sam Brownback today for story time at the Kansas State Library to help him kick off the third annual Read Kansas Read.
The statewide summer reading program is a collaborative effort by the Governor’s Office, Kansas Book Festival, Kansas State Library and the Kansas State Department of Education to challenge Kansas children to read while they aren’t in school.
“Students work hard to improve their literacy skills during the school year,” Governor Brownback said. “Without that structured classroom environment during the summer, however, many students don’t spend enough time reading consistently to maintain their skills. Read Kansas Read aims to change this by encouraging children to read for fun throughout the summer.”
First Lady Mary Brownback, State Librarian Jo Budler, Early Literacy Coordinator Anna Foote, and State Education Deputy Commissioner Brad D. Neuenswander joined the Governor for the launch of the summer reading program.
State Librarian Budler said the State Library is using its library network to encourage local library participation.
“The State Library is proud to work alongside Governor Brownback and the Kansas Department of Education to encourage summer reading. In 2013, Kansas libraries had more than 97,000 children and teens participate in summer reading programs and I hope that we have even more visit their library and make reading a priority this year.”
In September, the Governor and First Lady will recognize the top readers in each age group in the seven library regions as “Notable Kansas Readers” at an awards ceremony held at the Kansas Book Festival in September. All participating libraries will be entered to receive by random drawing a $500 grant from the Kansas Book Festival.
“The mission of the Kansas Book Festival is to promote literacy and a life-long love of reading among all Kansans, and the Read Kansas Read program is an excellent way to do just that,” said First Lady Mary Brownback. “Learning doesn’t end when school recesses for the summer, and Kansas libraries play an important role in this program. The book festival is honored to recognize the winning library with a $500 prize.”
Governor Brownback said children interested in participating can sign up at the local library or download their own book-tracking form from the program’s website, www.ReadKansasRead.ks.gov. All reading logs are due by August 11.
SALINA — A 19-year-old El Dorado teenager is in the Saline County jail on allegations of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and contributing to a child’s misconduct.
Dakota Dewitt is alleged to have had consensual sexual relations with a 14-year-old Salina girl between May 24 and May 27 at a Salina motel.
Dewitt was arrested early Tuesday after police were called by the mother of the girl. She found Dewitt hiding in a closet in the bedroom of the girl.
Salina Police Capt. Mike Sweeney said Dewitt and the girl met over the Internet.
SALINA — A Salina Police Department detective has been returned to duty following an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, in connection with an exchange of gunfire Wednesday afternoon near Centennial Park.
According to police, Detective Scott Hogeland, and Master Patrol Officers Mike Miller and Gary Hanus were shot at by Jose Carrillo, 45, after he removed a rifle from a blanket and began shooting at the officers who were talking to 55-year-old woman who had left a house down the street after Carrillo had allegedly pointed the rifle at her.
The officers returned fire and Hogeland struck Carrillo twice, causing non-life-threatening wounds.
Hogeland was placed on administrative leave per policy of the Salina Police Department. Police Chief Brad Nelson requested the KBI investigate the incident, and that investigation found no procedures were violated by police.
Carrillo, after being treated at the hospital, was booked into the Saline County Jail on suspicion of three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
TOPEKA – Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today announced that his office has recovered more than $357 million on behalf of Kansas consumers and taxpayers during his first three years in office, an amount unprecedented in the history of the Kansas attorney general’s office.
The total reflects funds recovered from 2011 through 2013 by Schmidt’s consumer protection division, Medicaid fraud and abuse division and tobacco enforcement unit.
“We have made it a priority to return money wrongfully taken from consumers and from the state treasury, which of course means ultimately from the taxpayers,” Schmidt said.
Under Schmidt’s leadership, the consumer protection division in the attorney general’s office has recovered a three-year total of $109 million, including a single-year record $49.6 million in 2013. In the first two and a half state fiscal years since Schmidt took office, the Medicaid fraud and abuse division has recovered $65 million, including a record $33.7 million in state fiscal year 2013. Medicaid fraud recoveries for state fiscal year 2014 will be reported later this year.
The tobacco enforcement unit has recovered $183 million over three years, and Schmidt has worked to stabilize the state’s tobacco settlement payments by resolving a decade of lingering disputes with the tobacco manufacturers regarding enforcement of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.
“I appreciate the professional work of our team in making these recoveries possible,” Schmidt said. “The credit belongs to the dedicated public servants whose day-to-day work in the attorney general’s office has produced these solid results.”
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State Athletics Director John Currie announced today that women’s basketball student-athlete Leticia Romero has been granted a release as a result of a newly modified institutional policy. The K-State Athletics Board of Directors approved a recommendation by Currie to retroactively apply the amended policy, which will permit Romero to transfer and be eligible for athletics aid at any institution under NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.3, with the exception of Big 12 institutions.
In a letter to President Kirk Schulz (see attached), Currie recommended an addition to the university transfer release appeals procedure to provide more flexibility to the Athletics Director to release a student-athlete if new information or circumstances warrant. The KSA Board of Directors met earlier this morning and adopted this recommendation along with updated language to the athletics department’s transfer release policy to better reflect the practice of the department in recent years (see attached).
“We appreciate the support of K-State fans during this time and wish Leticia all the best in her future pursuits,” said Currie.
Three Victoria High school students are headed to the National SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City next month after winning the state competition in April.
Pictured, from left, Victoria senior Trenton Klaus, senior Nathan Kuhn and junior Bryan Dome.
Seniors Trenton Klaus, Nathan Kuhn and Junior Bryan Dome qualified for the national competition after winning the Kansas State Welding Fabrication competition in April.
Bruce Engel, Victoria Junior/Senior High School trade and industry instructor and SkillsUSA instructor said this year was the first time the Victoria SkillsUSA group had been invited to attend the Welding Fabrication Team Competition in Hutchinson at Hutchinson Community College. In normal years, they compete at the individual competition in Wichita.
Engel said the three-member team went into the competition not knowing where they were going to build. They were given plans and materials and had 4 1/2 hours to complete the project. The group’s project was a welding table.
For the national competition, Engel said, the team already knows what it will be building — a garden trailer. Participants are given a list of materials and features the project must contain, and the group must create their own plans from that and build the project at the competition in Kansas City.
The national competition will be June 25 and 26 at the Kansas City Convention Center.
SkillsUSA is a national organization for teachers and high school and college students who are working toward careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior administration officials say President Barack Obama will seek to keep 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the war formally ends later this year.
Nearly all of those forces are to be out by the end of 2016, as Obama finishes his second term.
The two-year plan is contingent on the Afghan government signing a bilateral security agreement with the U.S. While current Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the agreement, U.S. officials are confident that either of the candidates seeking to replace him will give his approval.
Obama will announce the plan in a statement from the White House Tuesday afternoon. The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plan by name ahead of the president.
For the second year in a row, Hays High’s Reagan Kaiser has been named the Western Athletic Conference Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year. Indians coach Saul Hernandez is the WAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Indians to their third straight conference title.
Kaiser is one of three Hays players named to the All-WAC First Team along with Lacey Pfannenstiel and Brooke Russel. Talyn Kleweno, Tressa Becker and Lieacha Cook are honorable mention picks.
The Indians recently completed a 13-4-1 season that included a undefeated WAC title and regional win over Great Bend.
Kansas Attorney General’s office
