TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Independent Kansas Senate candidate Greg Orman acknowledges having a modest business tie to a former Goldman Sachs board member convicted of insider trading.
Orman said Wednesday during a news conference that Rajat Gupta is a friend and that he won’t abandon a friend who’s made a mistake.
Orman is touting his business experience as he seeks to unseat three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. The race is competitive, making Kansas an unexpected battleground in the fight for control of the Senate.
Orman said he has an investment of less than $50,000 in a company involving Gupta. Orman was not more specific.
Online business records show he and Gupta each own more than 5 percent of Exemplar Wealth Management of Olathe. Gupta’s conviction was in 2012.
BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer
PAUL ELIAS, AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it temporarily restored hundreds of deleted profiles of self-described drag queens and others, but declined to change a policy requiring account holders to use their real names rather than drag names such as Lil Ms. Hot Mess and Sister Roma.
The company restored the names Wednesday after it met with several drag queens and a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who object to Facebook’s policy. The drag queens say requiring them and others to disclose their real names is unfair and could put jobs, relationships and health at risk.
Facebook said it will keep the accounts active for two weeks so people can decide whether to provide their real names.
Several drag queens and Supervisor David Campos said at a news conference at San Francisco City Hall that they are disappointed that Facebook didn’t change its policy after the two sides met for about an hour Wednesday. Campos said Facebook has agreed to another meeting.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Luke Bryan will play himself on the October 1 episode of “Nashville.” Rayna, played by Connie Britton, will make an appearance on “Good Morning America” and Bryan will surprise her onstage.
PRATT- A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just after 3 p.m. on Wednesday in Pratt County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Ford F250 driven by Brandon J. McNerny, 19, Cunningham, was southbound on Fincham Road a mile east of the U.S. 54-U.S. 61 Junction. The truck drove into the left side of the trailer on an eastbound 2014 Peterbilt semi driven by Farrington, Rowdy C. Farrington, 40, Wichita.
McNerny was transported to Pratt Regional Medical Center. Farrington was not injured.
The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
Washington, D.C. – Today Representative Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), voted no on the Continuing Resolution. Following the vote, Congressman Huelskamp issued the following statement:
“Unfortunately, today’s vote on a spending bill is another example of business as usual in Washington. It irresponsibly delays important decisions for another three months into a lame duck session, thus allowing dozens and dozens of defeated and retired Members of Congress to make critical decisions after the election. Americans want solutions and answers now, but this spending bill continues the policy of can-kicking and keeps us on the path to add trillions more to our national debt.
“The short-term spending bill also extends an outdated, Depression-era program, the Export Import Bank. This special interest handout comes at a time when families across this country continue to suffer under the failed economic policies of this Administration.
“Finally, the stop-gap measure includes a measure rushed to the House floor to authorize a yet to be finalized-plan by the White House to address the multi-year presence of ISIL in Syria and Iraq. After sitting through multiple briefings, it is clear that Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama has not even settled on a strategy. I am not willing to risk our brave men and women at Fort Riley without knowing how President Obama even defines success, much less how he would achieve it.”
NEW YORK (AP) — A bug in Apple’s new iOS 8 software for mobile devices is prompting the company to withhold apps that use a highly touted feature for keeping track of fitness and health data.
Apple says it hopes to have HealthKit apps restored to its app store by the end of the month. The bug affects Apple’s own Health app and those made by outside developers. Apple didn’t provide details on what went wrong.
The iOS 8 software became available Wednesday. HealthKit is supposed to create a central repository for health and fitness data, so that apps have a better picture of your overall wellness and can even recommend trips to the doctor.
Apple’s new iPhones have sensors to monitor fitness activities, and its upcoming Apple Watch will have a heart-rate monitor.
PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have identified a south-central Kansas man who was killed after coming into contact with a 7,200-volt power line.
The Pratt County sheriff’s office said Wednesday that 58-year-old Eric Notter, of Pratt, was electrocuted while using a bucket truck near the power line. He was pronounced dead Tuesday at Pratt Regional Medical Center.
It was the second job-related electrocution in Kansas two days. On Monday, a concrete company employee was killed was killed when a boom on a truck touched an overhead power line in Arkansas City.
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) — A south-central Kansas prosecutor is preparing to report on the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop.
The Arkansas City Traveler report that Cowley County Attorney Chris Smith will release his decision Friday on whether the shooting of Tayler Rock was justified.
Rock, of Arkansas City, was shot several times May 31 after the deputy pulled him over on U.S. 166 near Dexter for a traffic violation. The Cowley County sheriff has said Rock tried to drive away, dragging the deputy through a ditch and running him over.
Rock was pronounced dead at a hospital. The deputy was treated for injuries to his lower legs.
At approximately 8:28 a.m. Wednesday Corrections Officer Tim Russell of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) was injured after he received multiple stab wounds while working at the HCF-Central Unit. Russell who is a 5 year veteran of the facility was transported to the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center by EMS.
Critical Incident Stress Team members are on site to assist facility staff who have been affected by this incident.
One inmate was taken into custody and was placed in the Administrative Segregation Unit. A weapon was recovered at the scene.
Special Agents with the Kansas Department of Corrections who are assigned to HCF are conducting the ongoing investigation. Upon completion of the investigation the case will be referred to the Reno County District Attorney’s Office,
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Hutchinson- According to Dirk Moss with Hutchinson Correctional Facility, the officer received what are said to be non-life-threatening injuries in the stabbing on Wednesday morning. He was transported by EMS to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center for treatment. According to Moss, one inmate was taken into confinement and is being held in the Segregation Unit in connection with the incident. No names have been released at this time.
Moss says the prison was never put into lock down and the facility is running as normal.
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HUTCHINSON- At approximately 8:28 a.m. Wednesday, a Correctional Officer at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility-Central Unit received multiple stab wounds. He was transported to the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center by EMS. His medical condition is not known at this time. Facility staff are with the officer at the hospital.
One inmate was taken into custody and was placed in the Administrative Segregation Unit.
Due to the ongoing investigation no other information is available at this time.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican serving as Kansas’ top elections official won’t give up on forcing Democrats to field a U.S. Senate candidate, even if the state Supreme Court orders the current nominee’s removal from the ballot.
Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Tuesday that state law requires Democratic leaders to pick a new candidate if Chad Taylor is removed from the ballot. Taylor stopped campaigning but Kobach refused to remove him from the Nov. 4 ballot.
Taylor went to the Supreme Court. It had a hearing Tuesday.
Some Democrats pushed Taylor to leave the race against three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, seeing independent candidate Greg Orman as stronger.
Kobach said that state law requires parties to fill candidate vacancies, and he’s ready to return to the Supreme Court if necessary.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Most Alaskans will receive nearly $1,900 for this year’s share of the state’s oil wealth that’s distributed annually to residents just for living here.
Gov. Sean Parnell announced the amount of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend on Wednesday. The payout set for Oct. 2 is more than double the amount of last year’s $900 checks, but short of the record payout of $2,069 in 2008.
The amount of each person’s check is based on a five-year average of the fund’s investment earnings, which included the recession years that were more widely felt outside Alaska.
Last year’s average included 2009, a recession year that dropped off from the 2014 equation.
Kansas Association of Police Chiefs vice president Ed Howell, Hays.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The actions of police officers in Ferguson, Mo., during recent unrest — and their use of heavy-armored trucks and military-style equipment, including assault rifles — have spurred a national debate about the militarization of local law enforcement agencies.
St. Louis County’s top police officer Col. Jon Belmar said Tuesday the equipment helped keep civilians and law enforcement officers safe.
The vice president of Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police Ed Howell agreed. Howell is also director of police for Fort Hays State University.
“We need to make sure that we have the tools to confront with what we’re being confronted with,” Howell said. “Just because we acquired that equipment through the military doesn’t mean it’s a militarization of the civilian police department.
“It’s a ‘measured response,’ ” he added.
“You’ve got a proliferation of guns in general in society. If you analyze the data, especially from the Department of Justice, an active shooter often has an assault rifle. So, you have to match what you’re possibly going to be confronted with, using a measured response dependent on the event.”
Howell also explained how his law enforcement department and others are “being good stewards with the money that we’re provided” by purchasing military equipment.
“If I used my (FHSU) budget, tax-generated or fee-generated, and I buy that tool — that rifle — at open market, it’s going to cost me a minimum of $1,000. If I get it through federal surplus (Federal Surplus Personal Property Donation Program), I can get it for $81 — a big difference.”
When three groups of protesters were on the FHSU campus during last May’s commencement ceremony, campus police officers were not brandishing assault rifles. Those were left in patrol vehicles.
“We had a protest group from Fred Phelps (Westboro Church in Topeka) and two more counter-protest groups. Did we break out the assault rifles? No,” Howell said with a frown.
