LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A man and woman will go on trial Sept. 15 on charges of attempted first-degree murder charges in the shooting of another man as he drove on a highway near Lawrence.

Brittany Smith and Edward Parker of Lawrence are charged in the May 26 shooting of Skylar Workman on Highway 59. Workman is recovering from severe injuries.

At the end of a two-day preliminary hearing Thursday, Parker was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. Smith will be arraigned and enter a plea Aug. 15.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that testimony during the hearing indicated Parker was angry that Workman was texting his girlfriend, and that Workman owed money to two of Parker’s friends. Workman had once dated Smith, who allegedly told investigators she was still in love with him.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A suspect charged in the deaths of a friend’s adoptive parents has testified they were killed because their adopted son thought he would get an inheritance.

Branden Michael Smith waived his own preliminary hearing and took the witness stand Thursday as part of a deal with prosecutors for his testimony against his three co-defendants.

Forty-eight-year-old Roger Bluml and 53-year-old Melissa Bluml were both shot in the head Nov. 15 at their home near Valley Center. Melissa Bluml died the next day, and her husband died Dec. 21.

Charged are the couple’s adopted teenage son, Anthony Bluml and his biological mother, Kisha Schaberg, of San Diego. Also charged is another of Anthony’s former classmates, Andrew Wallace Ellington.

Smith testified he provided the gun that Schaberg used to kill the Blumls.

The Office of Kansas Attorney General

SCOTT CITY – (July 17, 2014) – A Missouri man was ordered to repay a total of $75,000 to two Scott County consumers last week after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit theft, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

Donald Anthony Moses, 52, Neosho, Mo., was sentenced by District Magistrate Judge James R. Collins to 24 months of probation with an underlying sentence of 18 months in prison. Moses pleaded guilty in June to a charge of conspiracy to commit theft.

Two other defendants have been charged in connection with the case. One has been convicted and awaits sentencing; the other is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The state alleged that Moses stole funds from two Scott County senior citizens in a lightning rod insurance scam arising from a door-to-door sale. The case was investigated by the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division. Assistant Attorneys General Robert Novak, Adrian Serene and Jackie Williams prosecuted the case.

 

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Malaysian Airlines plane has apparently been shot down over eastern Ukraine.

A Ukrainian official says a passenger plane with 295 people aboard was shot down over a town in the country’s east. And Malaysian Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.

An adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister said on his Facebook page that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet. He said it was hit by a missile fired by a type of launcher that can fire missiles as high as 72,000 feet.

The government in the Donetsk region of Ukraine says the plane crashed near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of armed pro-Russian separatists.

The region has seen severe fighting between Ukrainian forces and the separatists in recent days.

Yesterday evening, Ukrainian officials say, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane. It adds to what Ukraine says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

SALINA- Two Salina men were arrested on drug charges Wednesday night while police were checking on a report of a possible stolen car.

Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney said officers were sent to the Airliner Motel on North Broadway to check on information received about a stolen car from Beloit.

Officers found 49-year-old Alfred Bell and 38-year-old Sedrick Buchanan near the car. It was missing from Mitchell County.

Police reported Bell had personal use amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana. Buchanan had meth and drug paraphernalia. Bell was also charged with possession of stolen property.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — American Royal leaders say they raised more than $10 million toward the organization’s goal of building a new structure to replace Kemper Arena in Kansas City.

The organization also said Wednesday that it had a verbal agreement with Sporting Kansas City’s investment group to use the new facility for youth sports.

The announcements came as a Kansas City Council committee was scheduled to hold the first of several hearings to determine the future of Kemper, which has seen its usefulness drop dramatically after the Sprint Center opened.

The Kansas City Star reports the city’s planning and zoning committee is considering American Royal’s proposal to demolish and replace the arena, or another plan to renovate Kemper into a regional youth sports complex.

 

Wichita, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Sedgwick County Health Department (SCHD) identified another possible exposure to measles in Wichita at the South Lakes Sports Complex on the fourth of July. Potential exposure occurred from a previously identified case, however there have been no confirmed cases associated with this event.

Eight teams from Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas attended the informal softball tournament. KDHE and SCHD are working with health officials in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska.

KDHE is asking anyone who attended the event or participated in the event and developed an illness with fever and rash to contact their healthcare provider. Healthcare providers who have questions should call the Kansas Department of Health and Environment at 877-427-7317 or the Sedgwick County Health Department at 316-660-7424.

Measles is a respiratory disease caused by a virus. With the creation of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, measles cases have generally been rare in the United States; however, it still sickens approximately 20 million and kills 164,000 people worldwide each year. There has been a resurgence of measles cases in the United States in 2014. From January 1, 2014 through July 11, 2014, 566 confirmed measles cases have been reported in 20 states. This is the highest number of cases since indigenous measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.

Most measles cases in the United States have occurred among persons who are not immunized. “The best way to keep from getting the disease is by being vaccinated. Protect children by making sure they have the MMR vaccine when they are 12 to 15 months old, and again before they enter kindergarten,” said Robert Moser, M.D., KDHE Secretary and State Health Officer.

Measles is highly contagious and is spread through the air by breathing, coughing, or sneezing. The signs and symptoms of measles typically begin one to two weeks after someone is exposed to an infected person. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected with the measles virus.

Symptoms include:

• Fever
• Blotchy rash on the skin, which spreads from the head to the trunk then to the lower extremities (Measles can be spread to others from four days before to four days after the rash appears.)
• Cough
• Runny nose
• Red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis)
• Feeling run down, achy
• Tiny white spots with bluish-white centers found inside the mouth (Koplik spots)

Nearly one in three persons who get measles will develop one or more complications, some of which may be serious. These include pneumonia, ear infections, or diarrhea. Encephalitis, which is a severe inflammation of the brain, may also occur in some cases.

“If you have a fever, stay home except to see a healthcare provider. If you need to visit your healthcare provider, call ahead so appropriate measures can be taken to protect other patients and staff,” said Adrienne Byrne-Lutz, SCHD Interim Director.

People at high risk for severe illness and complications from measles include infants and children aged <5 years, adults aged >20 years, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems.