WASHINGTON — Thursday Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) voted to create a Select Committee to investigate the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya. After its passage, Rep. Huelskamp released the following statement:
“I’m glad the Speaker finally agreed to what we’ve pushed for the last 18 months–a special House investigation into the Benghazi attack that took four American lives. The families of these victims deserve answers–the American people deserve answers. They deserve to know why the Obama Administration did not respond to known threats before the attack; what actually happened the day of the attack, who made the decision to not defend these Americans, and where the President and Secretary Clinton were at that time; and lastly, who in the White House misled the American people in the days following. We simply can’t allow this terrible tragedy to be swept under the rug by the Obama Administration.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Education says it’s received four complaints about a northeast Kansas school district alleging improper barriers to enrolling children brought into the U.S. illegally.
The federal agency said Thursday the complaints received since 2011 involve USD 500 in Kansas City, Kansas. Details of the complaints, which are being investigated, were not disclosed.
The Kansas City, Kansas, district has about 17,000 students. Its offices were closed Thursday night.
No other Kansas districts were cited.
Federal officials issued new national guidance Thursday reminding schools of a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing children brought into the country illegally the right to a K-12 education.
The officials said improper actions by districts in other states included requiring information about a child’s visa status or date of entry into the U.S.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood are teaming up for a duet for the Billboard Music Awards. They will sing “Somethin’ Bad” on the show May 18. The song will appear on Lambert’s upcoming album, “Platinum,” out June 3. Ricky Martin and Miley Cyrus have also been added to the list of performers.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal election officials are seeking an emergency halt to a judge’s order requiring Kansas and Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote with a national form.
At issue is U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren’s order requiring the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to immediately change the federal voter registration form to require Kansas and Arizona residents to provide documents proving their citizenship.
On Thursday, the commission asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency administrative suspension of Melgren’s order while it considers its motion for full stay pending appeal. It also asks the court to consider its appeal on an expedited basis, preferably in a special session this summer.
The filing comes a day after Melgren refused to suspend his own order during the appeal.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has pleaded guilty to charges in an armed robbery that led to the elderly victim’s death from stress.
KAKE-TV reports 27-year-old David L. White pleaded guilty Thursday in Sedgwick County court to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery. His plea agreement allows prosecutors to request a sentence of more than 29 years in prison.
White admitted robbing 73-year-old Byron Shipman at gunpoint of his wallet and two rings in March 2013. Shipman told his wife several hours later he was upset and frightened. He then died of what a medical examiner concluded was an aneurysm caused by the stress of the robbery.
White was captured after another person he robbed the same day gave police a partial number of his license plate.
US Drought Monitor map Kansas May 8, 2014 CLICK to enlarge
US Drought Monitor
After good rains last week across parts of the northern Plains, dryness followed this week across most of eastern South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.
Unseasonably cool weather continues to delay impacts thus far as 30-90 day deficits (25-75% of normal across the region) are starting to mount considerably for many parts of these states heading into summer.
This has led to some changes this week in the form of expanding D1-D2 in eastern Nebraska as well as in the southern Panhandle out west. D1 also expanded in southeastern South Dakota, although some trimming of D0 on the northernmost flank of D0 in eastern South Dakota is also noted this week as they have been wetter than those counties in the southeast.
Kansas continues to set the southern edge of the intense drought that seems to be waking up and pushing rapidly north along with warmer temperatures. A large expansion of D3 now covers nearly the entire southern half of Kansas and D4 is slowly pushing north out of Oklahoma. Soil moisture and groundwater levels are hurting well in front of the peak demand season as the cumulative impacts of such an intense multi-year drought are already glaringly evident, and it’s only early May. Precipitation totals on the year are running just 25-50% of normal, or worse, for many locales across southern Kansas.
The story is even bleaker in the southern Plains, where the heat and drought described above for Kansas are even more pronounced and entrenched across western Oklahoma and much of Texas as well.
Expansion has begun to happen in earnest now that Mother Nature has turned up the furnace, which will do the landscape no favors with summer not here yet. Expansion of D2-D4 is noted across western Oklahoma and all changes in Texas are for the worse this week as well, with expansion of D0-D4 found statewide and D3 and D4 covering large portions of southern, central, north-central and the Panhandle of Texas. Streamflow and groundwater levels are hurting given the long duration and sustained intensity of this drought, which is now going on close to four years. Winter wheat has also been hard hit by hard freezes and the more recent triple-digit heat. Lack of range and pasture land, as well as fire, are the other main impacts already being reported early this year.
Hays 7 – Word of Life 6 (8 inn.) If the opening game of the 2014 Western Plains Diamond Classic is any indication as to how the next three games to go, fans are in for a treat this year. The Hays High Indians defeated Word of Life 7-6 in eight innings to open up the three days of baseball games.
Word of Life held a 1-0 lead on a fielding error in the top of the second inning until Marcus Altman sent a towering solo home run over the left field fence to tie the game at 1-1. Starting pitcher Layne Downing gave the Indians their first lead of the game with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the fourth. Downing was pretty much on cruise control until he ran into a bases loaded jam in the top of fourth when Jazz Chisholm gave the Fire a 5-3 lead with grand slam homerun.
Jared Haynes scored in the bottom of the sixth and then was matched by a single run by Word of Life in the top of the seventh to set up a 6-4 lead for the Fire heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Hays loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, single and walk with now outs. Dalton Stout grounded into a double play but was able to plate Marcus Altman and move pinch runner Adam Klaus to third. Still trailing 6-5 Trenton Henningson sent a hard ground ball towards right field that was cut off by first baseman Jack Halloran. Holloran dove for first base in an attempt to record the third out, but dropped the baseball allowing Henningson to reach safely and Klaus to score from third to tie the game 6-6.
Kade Parker then relieved Downing on the mound for the top of the eighth needing just ten pitches to get through four batters. In the bottom of the eighth, Jared Haynes walked to open the inning and moved to second base on a one out single by Cole Schumacher. Altman lined out to left field, bringing Parker to the plate. Parker sent his fourth hit of the game to left field, scoring Haynes from second and giving the Indians the 7-6 victory.
Parker (4-1) picks up the win in relief. Derrick Begane (2-2) takes the loss in relief, allowing a run in the eighth inning.
Hays will face Great Bend at 7:00 Thursday night to cap off the first day of the 2014 Western Plains Diamond Classic. The game can be heard on 96.9 KFIX.
Game Highlights
Frank Leo Postgame Interview
Hays 16 – Great Bend 6 (6 inn.) Hays High had no problem in their second game of the Diamond Classic beating Great Bend 16-6 in six innings. Hays scored in all but one of the six innings, scoring 3 in the first, 6 in the second, 1 in each the third and fourth, and five runs in the sixth inning. Using a twenty hit attack, the Indians led 10-0 after three innings, but Great Bend was able to extend the game scoring two runs in the fourth and four runs in the sixth.
The Panthers used four different pitchers in the defeat. Anson Hall takes the loss for Great Bend. Cole Shumacher moves his record to 3-0 pitching all six innings, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits, striking out seven and walking two.
The Hays offense was highlighted by Marcus Altman’s four hits including his second home run of the tournament. Each of the ten Indians that batted recorded a hit.
Hays has won eight games in a row and improve their record to 11-5. Great Bend falls to 7-8.
It was also throwback Thursday for the Indians as they wore uniforms from 1981, the first year that Coach Frank Leo and pitching coach Keith Harper started coaching Hays High.
The Indians next action in the tournament will be against Salina Central at 7:15 on Friday night.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – It was once a criminal case. Now, it’s a civil matter. Country singer Billy Currington is being sued by a Georgia tour boat captain who pressed criminal charges against him last year. Currington was sentenced to five years’ probation in September after pleading no contest to a charge of abuse of an elderly person. Prosecutors say he chased and threatened 70-year-old Charles Harvey Ferrelle after his boat passed Currington’s home on Tybee Island. The Savannah Morning News reports Ferrelle filed a lawsuit saying Currington mocked and libeled him on a fan Web site two days before his plea.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The owner of Asian massage parlors in Wichita has admitted his role in a sex trafficking case unfolding in Kansas.
Gary Kidgell, of Waltham (WAHL’-tham), Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to new charges of obstruction and harboring an immigrant living illegally in the United States. Prosecutors agreed in exchange to drop sex trafficking charges against him at sentencing.
Kidgell admitted telling other inmates at a Kansas jail earlier this year that he intended to harm the law enforcement officer involved in his case unless he got the outcome he wanted. He also acknowledged harboring a woman he suspected was in the U.S. illegally.
Kidgell and his wife, Wichita resident Yan Zhang, were accused of recruiting women to come to Wichita to work at massage parlors, then coercing them into prostitution.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Many doctors and other health care professionals across the United States are reporting identity theft by criminals who used their personal information to file false tax returns and obtain refunds.
Officials with the Connecticut State Medical Society say the Secret Service told them that tax fraud involving doctors has been reported in 49 states. They say a few thousand physicians nationwide appear to have been affected, based on conversations with their colleagues in other states.
Dentists and nurses also report being victimized in similar frauds.
U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked the IRS and Secret Service on Thursday to investigate. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire made the same request last month.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Last year’s tornado season wasn’t the worst in Oklahoma history, either in the number of twisters or the number of lives taken.
But the deadly barrage that killed more than 30 people scared Oklahomans in a way that previous storms had not, moving them to add tornado shelters or reinforced safe rooms to their homes.
There’s just one problem: The surge of interest in tornado safety has overwhelmed companies that build the shelters. Now there are long waiting lists, and many people have to endure the most dangerous part of the season with no added protection.
In 2009, just 322 permits shelter permits were issued in Oklahoma City. Since May 2013, that number has risen to more than 8,000.
Workers at Norman-based Thunderground Storm Shelters are booked solid until mid-June.
After 904 wins at Barton Community College, and 1,001 career victories overall, baseball coach Mike Warren resigned Wednesday. Warren says he informed BCC Athletic Director Trevor Rolfs and President Dr. Carl Heilman Wednesday of his decision.
Warren has coached at Barton for 30 years and has a record of 904-630 while coaching the Cougars and a career mark of 1,001-740 including his coaching stops at Pratt Community College and Dodge City Community College.
The Cougars went 32-25-1 this past season in what turned out to be Warren’s final season at BCC.
ELLIS — Citations still are pending against the driver in a high-speed crash May 1 in Ellis, according to Ellis Police Chief Taft Yates.
Although the accident occurred just outside city limits in the 700 block of West Sixth Street, Yates said the Ellis Police Department and EMS responded to the scene at approximately 9 p.m.
The driver of a 2003 Camaro, Augustus Kortmeir, 18, Ellis, lost control of the vehicle, which went into a ditch, became airborne, rolled and flipped, striking a brick barn twice before it finally came to a stop. Both Kortmeir and a juvenile female passenger, who were not wearing seat belts, were ejected.
“The girl was pinned under the front of the car,” Yates said. “A police officer and first responder actually lifted the car to get the girl out.”
She was treated and released within a few hours from Hays Medical Center.
Kortmeier was transported to Hays Medical Center with more serious injuries including broken bones and lacerations.
“All the first responders did a tremendous job,” Yates said. “It could easily have been a tragic situation.”
WASHINGTON — Thursday Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) voted to create a Select Committee to investigate the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya. After its passage, Rep. Huelskamp released the following statement:
