KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A former nurse who is charged with sexually assaulting four Kansas City, Kansas, hospital patients has returned to jail.
The Kansas City Star reports that deputies took Dennis Clark into custody after a Wyandotte County judge increased his bond from $10,000 to $75,000. Prosecutors had requested the increase after the charges filed against the 47-year-old were amended.
Clark now is charged with raping two patients at Providence Medical Center. He also faces charges of aggravated sexual battery involving two other patients. He’s no longer employed at the hospital, and the Kansas Board of Nursing has revoked his nursing license.
Meanwhile, police in two Johnson County cities are investigating similar allegations at hospitals where Clark formerly worked.
His attorney didn’t immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press.
The groups hosted a Storybook Walk based on the book ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ in September in Ellis.
By KARI BLURTON Hays Post
ELLIS — A free “Storybook Walk” Saturday morning in Ellis aims to encourage kids and parents to take frequent breaks from technology and sweets and participate in reading and healthy activities instead.
Event co-coordinator Kelly Rudzika, said the kids will walk an outside trail (weather permitting) while a witch based on “Hansel and Gretel” will read a page about her candy house and tempting sweets. A nutritionist will counter with healthy snacks instead.
“(My team members and I) remember playing board games and going outside to play, so we really want to show them it can be fun to be without videogames and technology,” Rudzika said.
Rudiza said families and grandparents are encouraged to attend the event with their children.
The Story Book Walk begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Ellis Railroad Depot, 911 Washington.
The free event is sponsored by the Ellis Alliance, Ellis Library and Fort Hays State University’s Leadership Studies group “Awesome United.”
Eugene R. Knudsen, 82, of Russell, Kansas, passed away on November 20, 2014 at Russell Regional Hospital in Russell.
Celebration of Eugene’s life will be held on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 10am at the First Congregational Church in Russell. Visitation will be held on Monday from 9am to 8pm at Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary in Russell.
A memorial has been established at First Congregational Church. Contributions and condolences may be sent in care of Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary who is in charge of these arrangements.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are likely to consider diverting funds earmarked for highway projects to general government programs to help solve the state’s budget problems.
The chairmen of the House and Senate budget committee say such a step is an option as legislators work to close combined shortfalls of more than $714 million in the current and next state budgets.
Executive Vice President Bob Totten of the Kansas Contractors Association said Thursday that the group is concerned about the possibility but believes there’s bipartisan support for transportation projects.
Kansas started a 10-year and $8 billion transportation program in 2010. The program is financed outside the state’s main bank account with bonds, motor fuels taxes, vehicle registration fees and some sales tax revenues.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been killed in a house fire in a neighborhood just west of downtown Topeka.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the fire was reported around 8:20 a.m. Thursday in the two-story home. Topeka Fire Marshal Mike Martin says crews likely will be on the scene “for most of the day.”
One person was able to escape, but a woman died inside the home. The fire sent smoke drifting above the downtown skyline for more than two miles away. The flames were so intense that an SUV that had been parked near the front porch also caught fire.
At one point, firefighters and police officers restrained a man after he sprinted toward the still-burning house, apparently trying to get inside.
ELLSWORTH – Two wind projects in Kansas and Missouri are up for sale.
Last week the NTR Foundation based out of Ireland announced it is selling its US wind company Wind Capital Group LLC.
NTR constructs and operates wind projects across the US, UK and Ireland.
The company plans to launch the sale process of its wind projects Post Rock located in western Kansas, and Lost Creek based Union Star, Mo., this will comprise 350MW of operating assets with long‐term off take contracts.
“The market for selling US operational wind projects is very favorable and that the profile and quality of the two wind projects should be attractive to a wide range of potential purchasers,” Rosheen McGuckian, NTR Chief Ex. said. “Taking these factors into consideration, the Board has decided that launching a sale process is an appropriate strategy to optimize the value inherent in these projects.”
The process will formally launch later this month, with a view to seeking initial bids from interested parties in the New Year.
December 6, 2014 will be the date for the Leadership 310 Seminar being offered to young girls between the ages of 11 and 18 at the Memorial Union on the campus of Fort Hays State University. Mike Cooper visits with Lindsay Smith and Rachal Cotherman, both Fort Hays State Seniors, on what girls can expect during the conference.
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today joined U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in introducing legislation to protect the United States from further spread of the deadly Ebola disease by restricting travel to the U.S. from nations where the disease is emerging.
“It is commonsense to limit travelers entering the United States who may be exposed to deadly diseases like Ebola,” Roberts said. “As global travel becomes more commonplace, our policies on disease management and national security need to be re-assessed especially given the recent spread of Ebola within our shores.”
Senator Roberts cosponsored Senator Rubio’s “Keeping America Safe from Ebola Act of 2014.” The following is a summary of the bill:
Suspends new visas and revokes current visas of an individual who is:
A permanent resident or national of a country that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has certified is a country for “widespread transmission of Ebola” and;
Whose last habitual residence was a country that the CDC has certified is a country for “widespread transmission of Ebola.
Recognizing the importance of American health workers’ role in fighting disease outbreaks, the bill grants an exception for aid workers who need to travel the U.S. and are approved by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and; foreign military who need to travel to the U.S. and are approved by the Department of Defense.
To keep the American people and the Congress better informed, the bill also requires the President to report to Congress the status of Ebola outbreaks in each designated country and the progress made in fighting the disease. This will also include a description of the U.S. assistance to each designated country and any reasons that a complete travel ban is not in the interest of U.S. national security.
On Wednesday, Senator Roberts voted for a bill in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee that would add Ebola to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Priority Review Voucher Program. This will allow the FDA to incentivize the development of treatments and vaccines for Ebola, speeding up research to fight the disease.
Senator Roberts is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and is the Co-Chair of the Rural Health Caucus.
WHITE CITY- Fifteen fire fighters from White City and Herrington responded to a blaze in Morris County just after 8:30 a.m. on Thursday in Morris County.
White City Fire Chief Tracy Schmidt said the fire started in an out building and spread to a residence at 2778 C Avenue
“The home is owned by Billy Lauderman,” Schmidt said. “We were able to save the structure, but the fire destroyed all contents of the home. There were no injuries. Three pets also escaped.”
The Ellis County Rural Fire Department responded to a grass fire Wednesday near the 1600 block of Buckeye.
According to Ellis County Rural Fire Department Director Dick Klaus, company five of the rural fire department responded to the fire north of Hays around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. The fire was reportedly caused due to embers that were released from a trash fire in a controlled burn.
Approximately 2 acres of grass were burned and 26 evergreens were damaged in the incident. It took the fire department less than an hour to control the fire.
Gene Policinski is senior vice president of the First Amendment Center
Bill Cosby’s career has been deeply rooted in the possibilities and protections provided by freedom of speech.
The legendary comedian and actor’s career began with landmark comedy routines in which he tackled sensitive racial subjects. He was the first African American male with a starring role on TV, in the 1960s series “I Spy.”
The iconic late-1980s, early-1990s sitcom “The Cosby Show” featured an affluent, professional black family that countered decades of denigrating stereotypes. And, most recently, he’s made headlines and created a few critics as a public observer and candid counselor on matters involving race and fellow African Americans.
Claims have now come to light across various media that Cosby drugged and then sexually assaulted a number of young women, in incidents reaching back into the 1960s. Various news reports say no criminal charges are likely because of statutory time limits on prosecution.
The Cosby furor exploded in social media in recent days, starting with video of comedian Hannibal Buress inviting an audience to “Google Bill Cosby rape,” while riffing on what he said was Cosby’s current curmudgeonly posture.
In an ironic twist, Cosby himself helped call attention to those making the assault claims when his Twitter account asked fans to create memes — images intended to spread quickly throughout the Internet — about him. What likely was attended as a feel-good PR stunt backfired as the images contained comments about the assault claims.
Then, in a pre-taped National Public Radio interview aired on Nov. 15, in which Cosby and his wife, Camille, had been talking about their collection of African art, NPR host Scott Simon switched subjects: “This question gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.” When Cosby did not speak, Simon continued, “You’re shaking your head ‘no.’ I’m in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to those charges?” Still, silence from Cosby. So Simon ended the one-sided exchange by saying he had wanted to afford Cosby the chance to speak out.
In the days since, more women have come forward with graphic claims of sexual assault. Appearances on television and entertainment projects involving Cosby have been cancelled, and his lawyer says no response is forthcoming. But such actions that once would once have resulted in a low profile are being swept aside in an ongoing social media tide — Cosby’s critics continue to range across Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
We’ve seen such controversies play out in the news media in the past in very different ways.
A little less than 90 years ago, as movies surged into prominence, a beloved entertainer of that era also faced stunning allegations involving a claim of sexual assault. Newspaper accounts in 1921 raged around popular comedian “Fatty” Arbuckle following the alleged assault and subsequent death of 26-year-old Virginia Rappe. Ironically, the silent film star was forced to speak out to counter the media blitz. Two juries deadlocked, and the third jury voted for acquittal, but Arbuckle’s career never recovered. He died in 1933.
On the Time Warner website “Crime Library,” writer Denise Noe reports that “Newspapers, led by William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner, had a field day. Yellow journalism was at its peak and readers were regaled with stories about Arbuckle’s supposedly debauched private life and his alleged cruelty to (Rappe).”
Noe’s story also says that “Hearst once bragged … that the Examiner had ‘sold more newspapers because of the Arbuckle case than the sinking of the Lusitania.'” She also writes that Arbuckle “was bewildered by his dizzying fall from public grace. ‘I don’t understand it,’ he complained. ‘One minute I’m the guy everybody loved, the next I’m the guy everybody loves to hate.'”
In a much more contemporary example, filmaker Woody Allen used a guest column in The New York Times in February to respond to — and largely dampen a brief media frenzy over — the resurfacing of 21-year-old allegations that he had sexually abused an adopted daughter. Allen said at the time that “This piece will be my final word on this entire matter and no one will be responding on my behalf to any further comments.”
Traditional media, in Cosby’s case, already are being criticized for not jumping on the stories earlier. Cosby’s lawyer has rightly noted of the widespread claims against his client that “the fact that they are being repeated does not make them true.” And Cosby’s right of free speech certainly carries the right not to speak.
But in this news-and-information-saturated era, and with his accusers having ready access to social media to reach everywhere, Cosby’s approach of “silent until proven guilty” may not carry the day in terms of protecting his reputation and preserving his career.
Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]
Joshua William Young, age 34, passed away near Brownell, Kansas on November 18, 2014.
He was born on November 22, 1979 in Ransom, Kansas, the son of Jeffrey and Peggy Whipple Young.
He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps for 8 years and he was a member of the Sons of American Legion Post 380 of Utica. He was a lifetime resident of Utica.
He is survived by his parents, Jeff and Peggy, Utica, KS; daughters, Alexa Hopkins and Jasmine Ann Young; sister, Bridget (Travis) Tillitson and their children, Berkley and Delevan, Ransom, KS; brother, Lewis (Jodi) Young and their children, Riya, Jewel, and Raylee, Utica.
He was preceded in death by grandparents, Clarence and Cecil Whipple; grandparents, Bill and Patsy Young, and Aunt Penny Chiminello.
Viewing will be Friday, November, 21, 2014, 9:00 A.M. – 9:00 P.M. with family present to greet friends 6:00 – 8:00 P.M. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home.
Funeral Service will be Saturday, November, 22, 2014, 10:30 A.M. First Christian Church, Utica, KS.
Burial in the Utica Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be given to Toys for Tots, or Children’s College Fund.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. meteorologists say the world in October continued to set heat records. They say despite a bitter U.S. cold snap, the globe is rushing toward its warmest year on record.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that last month was the hottest October on record. The 58.43 degrees Fahrenheit (14.74 Celsius) beat out October 2003.
Five of the last six months have set monthly global heat records. July is the only exception. NASA and Japan’s weather agency also called it the hottest October on record.
NOAA says with only two months left in the year, 2014 has now surged ahead as the warmest year so far, beating 2010 and 1998. So far this year the world is averaging 58.62 degrees (14.78 degrees Celsius).
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A former nurse who is charged with sexually assaulting four Kansas City, Kansas, hospital patients has returned to jail.
