INDEPENDENCE, Kan- A fatal head on accident occurred just before 10 p.m. on Sunday in Montgomery County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Toyota Tundra driven by Corey Daniel Legaard, 21, Kansas City, was southbound on U.S. 169 one mile south of the U.S. 160 Junction.

The Toyota went left of center and hit a northbound semi-truck head on.

Legaard was transported to Mercy Hospital in Independence where he died.

The KHP reported that the semi-truck driver Justin Alexander Young, 37, Jacksonville, FL., was possibly injured.

The KHP report indicated it was unclear if Legaard was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A photo of Wichita police officers rescuing a 6-month-old German shepherd from an overpass helped reunite the frightened animal with his owners.
The Wichita Eagle reports an officer was writing a ticket near the overpass at Kellogg and Tyler Road on Friday night when he saw the dog, named Harley, on the overpass ledge.

Police say the dog had been frightened by fireworks being shot off near its home and somehow got on the ledge, 32 feet above a highway where people sometimes drive 70 or 80 mph.

Four officers managed to get the dog off the ledge, but the spooked animal ran off and had to be corralled by several police cars.

A photo of the rescue was posted online, which is how its owners tracked it down.

KANSAS CITY – Two men are dead and four others were seriously injured when their SUV overturned on a county road in southwest Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 20-year-old Mark Harken of Prairie Village, Kansas, was driving a 2000 Ford Explorer in Benton County at 2:15 p.m. Saturday when he lost control of the vehicle and drove off the left side of the road and struck a group of trees. One passenger Evan C. Westoff, 20, Fairway, was ejected.

Harken and 18-year-old Clayton Miller of Kansas City, Missouri, were killed in the crash.

The other young men, Evan C. Westoff, 20, Fairway, Gage, M. Hamilton, 20, Overland Park, David M. Draxler, 19, and Lukas J. Fleming, 20, both from Prairie Village were flown to three regional hospitals in serious condition.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report

 

EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — Improperly disposed of fireworks are blamed for at least three fires in Emporia, including one that destroyed an assisted living facility.

KVOE reports smoldering fireworks were stored in a plastic trash can that was rolled up against Sterling House on Friday night. The resulting fire destroyed most of the assisted living residence and displaced 21 residents

Firefighters were called to a house fire around 6 p.m. Saturday where fireworks put into a plastic trash can smoldered overnight and ignited some siding and a window sill.

That fire came at the heels of a similar fire elsewhere in the city where smoldering materials were not properly handled before damaging siding of a home and forcing firefighters to tear down a ceiling to make sure the fire was put out.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Several Kansas groups are seeking a new level of dental provider they say could ease a shortage of dentists across the state.

A proposed bill was introduced in the last legislative session to create registered dental practitioners who would be somewhere between a hygienist and a dentist, but it didn’t get a hearing.

Advocates like the Kansas Dental Project say the mid-level positions would improve access to dental services like nurse practitioners and physician’s assistance do in the medical community.

The Wichita Eagle reports 86 of the state’s 105 counties qualify as dental health professional shortage areas, including 13 counties that have no dentist at all.

The Kansas Dental Association opposes dental practitioners and says they would face the same barriers preventing some dentists from practicing in rural areas.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Preparations at McConnell Air Force Base for the arrival of the new KC-46A air refueling tankers are expected to boost contracting opportunities for businesses.

A recent groundbreaking ceremony marked the start of the first $197 million in new construction projects. Congress has allotted a total of $219 million for the tanker work at the Wichita base.

The Wichita Eagle reports that while most of those new contracted opportunities are construction related, officials say there are other contracting possibilities at the base.

The Small Business Administration says federal contract opportunities in Kansas average between $1.5 billion and $2 billion annually. About 23 percent are open to bid by small businesses.

SBA usually refers businesses starting out in contracting to the Kansas Procurement Technical Assistance Center at Wichita State University.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators will face renewed pressure next year to provide additional legal protections to gay marriage opponents who want to avoid accommodating same-sex couples for religious reasons.

A “religious freedom” measure failed in the Legislature earlier this year, even though conservative Republicans control both chambers and top GOP leaders strongly support the state constitution’s gay marriage ban.

A federal appeals court that has jurisdiction over Kansas struck down Utah’s gay marriage ban last month.

Gay marriage opponents believe Kansas’ ban is now in jeopardy, though Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King noted the ruling is on hold, leaving the state’s ban intact.

A prominent Southern Baptist minister in Wichita and other pastors and church organizations are determined to see legislators take up the “religious freedom” issue again.

MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Faith-affiliated charities, colleges and hospitals are leading the next legal dispute over religion, birth control and the health law that’s likely to be resolved by the Supreme Court.