TROY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Doniphan County.

The Kansas Highway reported a 2005 Mercury Mountaineer driven by Cheryl Lynn Christian, 35, Troy, was eastbound on U.S. 36. The vehicle slowed to make a left turn at Oxide Road.

An eastbound 2003 Chevy Silverado driven by Leann Nicole Wampler, 24, Troy, slowed to allow the Mountaineer to turn and was rear-ended by a Volvo semi.

The collision pushed the Silverado into the Mountaineer.

Wampler was transported to Heartland East.

Christian, a child in the Silverado and the semi driver were not injured.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is designating three new national monuments for protection as historic or ecologically significant sites, including the Pullman neighborhood in Chicago where African-American railroad workers won a historic labor agreement.

The White House says Obama will be in his hometown Thursday, and he’s expected to announce the Pullman National Monument.

The neighborhood on the city’s South Side was built by industrialist George Pullman in the 19th century for workers to manufacture luxurious railroad sleeping cars. The neighborhood was crucial in the African-American labor movement.

Obama also is expected to announce designation of Honouliuli National Monument in Hawaii, where Japanese-American citizens and prisoners of war were held during World War II; and Brown’s Canyon National Monument in Colorado, a 21,000-acre site along the Arkansas River popular for whitewater rafting.

Little Apple Post

MANHATTAN -A Kansas man made his first court appearance on Wednesday in connection with a fatal bicycle accident in June.

Derik Kesler, 32, Rossville, is charged with vehicular homicide.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Dodge pickup driven by Kesler was southbound on Kansas 177 just after 7 p.m. on June 26, and struck bicyclist Mark M. Jilka, 49, Manhattan from behind.
Jilka was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kesler was represented by Attorney Tom Lemon of Topeka. He waved the judge’s formal reading of the charges.

Lemon expressed his desire to withhold from giving a plea to the charge, in order to assure Kessler’s application to a diversion. Judge Bosch entered a plea of not guilty for Kesler, which is typical when applying for a diversion.

Kessler’s next appearance will be on March 2.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Federal health officials say more than 96,000 consumers have signed up for health insurance coverage in Kansas through the federal marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced Wednesday that 96,226 Kansas consumers either selected a plan or were automatically reenrolled in coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Nationally, HHS says about 11.4 million Americans selected plans or were automatically reenrolled.

The second year of open enrollment ended Sunday.

Of Kansas residents who either selected a plan or were automatically reenrolled, nearly 86,000 were in the Kansas City area.

The agency also reported that 80 percent of Kansas consumers who signed up by the end of January qualify for an average tax credit of $214 per month.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON. — A suspect in a Ford County murder made a court appearance in Reno County on Wednesday.

Victor Gutierrez, 26, entered guilty pleas to criminal possession of a firearm and felony flee and elude.

Gutierrez was arrested on U.S. 50 east of Hutchinson in September after a high-speed chase.

Authorities believed he was involved with the murder of 30-year-old Natasha Pruitt. She was found dead of a gunshot wound at her Dodge City residence.

In addition to the murder charge, Gutierrez is also charged with aggravated endangerment of a child, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon and defacing identification marks of a firearm.

A charge of possession of cocaine against him was dismissed.

WICHITA— Sedgwick County Sheriff officials have identified the victim of Sunday’s homicide in the 3900 block of East 69th North.

In a media release, officials reported the victim is 56-year-old Dale A. Childress of Tulsa.

He is a black male according to the sheriff’s office.

An autopsy was conducted on Tuesday and the preliminary cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound. Evidence indicates the victim was shot at the location where he was discovered.

Law enforcement officials are still seeking assistance in locating anyone who may have traveled in the area on Feb 15, between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The description of the vehicle possibly involved is trying a 2001 to 2005 Buick LeSabre, 4 door, dark in color, possibly dark green.

Sheriff’s officials said the case is complex and they have been conducting numerous investigative activities. Detectives are still following leads and urge anyone with information to contact Sheriff Investigations at 316-660-5300 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

This is the first homicide reported in 2015 in the unincorporated area of Sedgwick County.

CAWKER CITY- Three people were injured in an accident just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday in Mitchell County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 GMC SUV driven by Heather M. Schultz, 34, Cawker City, was southbound on Cawker Lane just east of 120th Road and approaching U.S. 24.

The driver failed to stop at a stop sign. A 2005 Pontiac driven by Breana Justine Riffel, 17, Scandia, hit the GMC on the driver’s side.

Then a 2012 Chevy passenger car struck the Pontiac in the right-rear quarter panel.

Schultz, Riffel, and a passenger in the SUV Lexa Rae Junedalena Adams, 16, Cawker City, were transported to Mitchell County Hospital.

The driver of the Chevy Rhonda Lea Most, 52, Downs, was not injured.

The KHP reported Schultz, Riffle and Adams were not wearing seat belts.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The leader of a Kansas commune that received millions of dollars in life insurance payouts from dead members has been convicted of murder in the drowning death of a female member.

A jury on Wednesday found 55-year-old Daniel Perez guilty of first-degree premeditated murder for 2003 death of Patricia Hughes at the suburban Wichita compound that was home to the commune. Her death was considered an accident until 2011, when a woman who was 12 at the time told authorities the death was staged.

He also was found guilty of all 27 other counts, including rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, sexual exploitation of a child and making false information.

Perez testified during the trial that he was innocent of all the allegations.