DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling about 390,000 cars because the doors may not latch properly and could open while the cars are in motion.
The recall covers certain Ford Fiestas, Ford Fusions and Lincoln MKZ cars from the 2012 through 2014 model years that were made in Mexico.
The automaker says a part in the door latch spring assembly can break, causing the latch to fail. If that happens, it’s possible a door could fly open while the cars are being driven.
Ford said two people suffered sore shoulders from doors bouncing back after they were closed. There’s also a report of one accident when an unlatched door opened and hit another car in a parking lot.
Dealers will replace all four door latches at no cost to customers.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A California woman could go on trial next spring on charges of killing of her biological son’s adoptive parents in southeast Kansas.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 36-year-old Kisha Schaberg is charged with capital murder in the killings of Roger and Melissa Bluml. The couple was shot in November 2013 as they sat in a car outside of their rural Valley Center home.
During a hearing Friday, Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Goering asked attorneys to tentatively reserve April 2016 for the proceedings. The trial could last a month or more.
Schaberg has pleaded not guilty and is jailed on $2 million bond. She could face the death penalty if convicted. Her biological son and two of his friends are scheduled for trial later this year in the case.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has shielded from public disclosure evidence the government turns over to attorneys for a Kansas man accused of trying to bomb an Army installation.
The order signed Friday in the case of 20-year-old John T. Booker Jr. comes at the request of prosecutors and with the agreement of the defense team. The government says the evidence includes general discovery typical in criminal cases, as well as declassified and sensitive law enforcement materials.
Dissemination of the information is limited for use in preparing for trial.
The order does not apply to classified information, which is governed by a separate statute.
Booker is accused of trying to arm a 1,000-pound bomb near Fort Riley. He is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and related crimes.
Entries are piling up for a slogan contest being held this year by the North American Manure Expo.
The trade show, now in its 13th year, showcases the latest technology in manure handling, treatment and application. It’s being held in July in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
An official event slogan has already been settled on: “2015 Manure Expo: Manure than you can Handle!” It will appear on the front of a T-shirt.
But contestants are vying to land a spot on the back of the T-shirt, which event organizers say will display 10 of the “crappiest” also-rans. Writers of the 10 alternate slogans get a free T-shirt.
Many entries, predictably, contain a vulgar substitute for “manure.”
Here are 10 (printable) entries from the approximately 200, that were submitted by Thursday:
—Manure Expo, where nobody stands behind their product.
—You provide the creek. We provide the paddle.
—Keep your friends close, and your manure further.
—The future of what’s left behind!
—We do doo. Do you?
—Manure Happens (to be Nutritious!)
—Been there, Spread that … @ the North American Manure Expo
—Proud survivor of North American Manure Expo … It got deep.
SALINA – Salina Police arrested a man Thursday for allegedly stealing a debit card out of a pickup in January.
Police say Eddie Boyce, 31, is accused of taking the debit card of a woman while visiting her son at their home in the 800 block of West South Street on January 27th.
Boyce allegedly took the keys of the pickup from the home and stole the debit card that was in the truck.
Boyce used the card at two different ATM locations on January 28th totaling just over $606.
Houghton reported the theft on January 30th.
Boyce was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges of vehicle burglary, theft, and unlawful use of a financial card.
James Everett “Chief” Whipple, age 91, resided in Lakeside, California. He passed away on April 20th, 2015 at Pomarado Hospital in Poway California.
He was born December 13th, 1923 in Ness City Kansas, the son of Bernice and Jake Whipple of Beeler Kansas. “Chief” was number 8 of 13 siblings.
Chief grew up on the farm where he learned to work hard and play hard. He and his brother Don were called “Midnight and Sunrise” because although they did finish their chores and milking every day it took them an extraordinary amount of time to get done due to the wrestling, ratting, fighting, riding, hiding and general mischief that never seemed to be far from the two brothers.
Jim stayed on the farm until the start of WWII. He enlisted in the Navy and served 2 years in the Pacific.
Upon his return from the war he studied engineering at the University of Denver. He married and moved to California and continued his engineering studies at San Diego State University.
He was hired as a surveyor by the County of San Diego and surveyed for the next 30 years. He loved the outdoors and walking through the wilderness. Surveying took him to many desolate locations, some only accessible by helicopter. He often brought home snakes, birds, lizards and trap door spiders; he was always fascinated by and enjoyed the nature around him.
In California he raised five children, four daughters and a son on a small ranch about 30 miles inland from the coast. The saying “You can take the man out of Kansas but you can’t take the Kansas out of the man” really applied to Jim. After a day’s work surveying he would complete his “Route” he would leave work with a trailer, pick up the day old bread from the bakery, drive to the local pig farmers, swap the bread for pigs, then drive to the local dairy farmers and swap the pigs for day old calves. He would bring the calves or pigs or goats or chickens home and we would raise them to a substantial size for resale. This horse trading, haggling livestock swapping stuck with him to the very end. He was currently planning a trip to Texas to swap two zebras and sell another.
Jim always loved exotic and difficult animals; he was very successful at raising wild water fowl and was able to visit their breeding grounds deep in the Alaskan tundra a trip that included trains, boats, airplanes and Eskimo guides. His most memorable moment was the time he spent in Africa crawling across the Serengeti Desert on his stomach stocking wild game.
In his later years he was very active raising large exotic mammals, Przewalski’s Horses, Zebras and Camels. There was nothing he loved more than spending time in the barn with the animals.
James Whipple is survived by his wife Faye; children, Fredricka, Paula, Christina and Joe; brothers, Don, Rex, Tom and Paul and sister, Jenny; 11 grandchildren; more than 20 great-grandchildren; and lost count on the great-great-grandchildren.
There will be two services held for James Whipple
Featheringill Mortuary – Friday 10:00 AM, April 24th, 2015 6322 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115, 619-583-951
Fitzgerald Funeral Home – Friday 2:00 PM May 1st, 2015.
TOWN OF PIEHL, Wis. (AP) — A teenager accused of killing her mother and stepfather in northern Wisconsin is due in court.
Seventeen-year-old Ashlee Martinson has been brought back to Wisconsin from Indiana where she was arrested last month. Authorities say Martinson is scheduled for a Friday afternoon appearance in Oneida County Circuit Court.
Martinson is charged with fatally stabbing 40-year-old Jennifer Ayers and shooting 37-year-old Thomas Ayers on March 8 at the family’s home in the Town of Piehl.
Martinson and Ayers were former Hays residents. Ayers grew up in Hays and graduated from Hays High School in 1992. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fort Hays State University and worked as a certified nurse’s assistant.
Besides being charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, Martinson also faces three counts of false imprisonment. Prosecutors say she locked her three younger sisters, ages 2, 8 and 9, in a room before fleeing to Indiana with a 22-year-old man.
Investigators say the man was not involved in the crime.
GREAT BEND -The Kansas Wetlands Education Center, along with Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks & Tourism, The Nature Conservancy, and the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau, is hosting the annual 2-day birding festival this weekend. April 24-25.
The Wings N Wetlands Festival offers participants a unique opportunity to bird two of the best birding spots in the region, Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, as well as other area hot spots. Beyond the great birding, the weekend festivities also include fun workshops, relaxing socials, and opportunities to experience area attractions along the Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway.
Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge are two Wetlands of International Importance, and provide thousands of birds a stopover along their North and South migration routes. The festival dates coincide with the historical peak of shorebird migration, and is sure to provide some excellent viewing of well over 150 species of birds. Paid registration for the festival includes three or four guided birding fieldtrips with transportation, workshops and seminars, breakfast, 2 dinners, and snacks. Events take place at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center at Cheyenne Bottoms and the Best Western Courtyard in Great Bend.
For more information and registration details contact the Kansas Wetlands Education Center at 1-877-243-9268.
I can easily explain my motives for elaborating on all the trepidations and misgivings of Barack Hussein Obama. For one, we might not continue to be an exceptional America going down this same road in the future, and, Obama’s scheme and agenda of “transforming America,” isn’t even close to working. We need a complete turnaround in selecting our next president going back to things that made this country great in the first place.
Has the failure of far left liberalism ever, in our history, shown, so very clearly, this is an ideology that does not work. For example: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics April 3, a record 93,175,000 Americans not working (that’s a 37-year low); record 12,202,000 blacks not in the labor force; record 56,131,000 women not working, and that’s just a small sample of records being set and an administration making history.
In my last two writings, in case you missed them, I mentioned the many ways in which our president is different than other presidents in the past. This column is a continuation of Obama’s extraordinary background and extraordinary governance.
I read where Dr. Ben Carson, retired neurological surgeon, and GOP African-American presidential hopeful, commented about “the ease with which Obama lies.” Our president routinely, at a record making pace, stretches the truth, but you wouldn’t know it, since liberal mainstream media doesn’t mention it. History books will not be kind to him on this score. Polls show there is an all time low by Americans about the trustworthiness of this government. How can anybody believe anything Obama says. Even Iran’s Ayatollah Khameni claimed Obama was lying about the framework for the nuclear treaty.
Another example: No other president would have the gall to announce on TV some 20 times for all to see and hear that no president has the constitutional authority to grant amnesty to illegals then deny ever saying as much, and worse yet, go ahead and unconstitutionally do it through executive authority. Other presidents did it based on a law. There is no law passed by congress in Obama’s case. Previous presidents exercised executive authority but not for the reason Obama does it. Our pres expects Hispanics to vote Democrat in elections and swing all elections toward Democrats.
Obama lied about the Affordable Care Act not paying for abortions.
The most powerful and feared U.S. government agency is the IRS. Can readers ever think of an agency under any other president that clearly set out to put the fear of death in conservatives, called targeting. That scenario, along with many other unethical ones, gave Obama a second term. .
In recent American history no other U.S. attorney general has been in the president’s pocket like Eric Holder. Nothing the president does is in any way a problem for our Department of Justice. There is absolutely no accountability – none. An Attorney General’s job is to ensure “all” branches of government function within the law. Not with Holder.
This administration is setting records for lack of transparency. The Associated Press recently stated “the government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it could not find documents, and refused a record number of times to turn over files that might be especially newsworthy. In nearly 1 in 3 cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law” Another word for this behavior is “stonewalling.” Holder’s Dept. of Justice looks the other way.
Never before, in recent history at least, has there been such anti American sentiment, even by Americans. The accusations of racism have runamuck along with cries, by liberals, of “white privilege.” Far too many no longer believe in “the American Dream.” Christians feel they are being discriminated against. The successful are criticized and the less successful coddled. Polls show the majority of Americans believe this country is on the wrong track.
As a counter argument, instead of name calling, I challenge liberals to show readers how this country is better off in a major way with Obama as president. Liberals will claim our economy is getting better, but it is not, and is setting records as the slowest recovery since World War II.
HUTCHINSON – Law enforcement officials are investigating a series of arson fires in Reno County.
The Reno County Sheriffs Department reported they arrested a suspect on Thursday morning after he allegedly set three fires to CRP land near Pleasant Valley and Centennial Roads.
James Farra, 37, Partridge, is also being held on suspicion of setting seven similar fires April 4th.
Officials say it is not known at this time if he is connected to the CRP arson fires that were set along a 20-mile swath through southern Reno County in March and April.
Storms are expected to develop initially across central Kansas and move east.
“The most severe storms expected across Trego-Ellis-Rush-Ness counties. Up to baseball-size hail, super cell thunderstorms and the possibility of a tornado cannot be ruled out,” according to the NWS.
In the evening and overnight hours, south-central and southeast Kansas is under the highest threat of severe weather.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — An investigation is ongoing into a phony driver’s license scheme that already has netted more than 30 suspects in suburban Kansas City.
The Kansas City Star reports that Kansas Secretary of Revenue Nick Jordan says part of the investigation includes determining how the fraudulent licenses may have been used. Jordan said that in his five years as director, it was the first time there has been such a level of fraud uncovered.
Samantha Jo Moore is the only former agency employee charged in the case. She’s jailed in Johnson County on 51 felonies, including bribery and official misconduct. Bond for the 28-year-old has been set at $250,000. Her public defender, Joseph Astrab, didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press.
On Thursday, April 16, Governor Sam Brownback signed into law the Kansas HOPE Act. The legislation received overwhelming support by Kansas lawmakers. The same is true among Kansas residents.
This week, Kansas City, Mo.-based company Remington Research Group released survey results pertaining to the Kansas HOPE Act. The survey showed among other results:
· 64 percent of respondents support the Kansas HOPE Act.
· 66 percent of respondents believe we should do even more to limit how welfare benefits are spent.
“The survey demonstrates something we already know—the majority of people support welfare to work policies that are designed to help individuals become self-sufficient,” DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said in a news release. “We have helped thousands of Kansans get back to work, and we look forward to helping many more in the future.”
The survey was conducted April 20-21, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent, with a 95 percent level of confidence. This was an independent survey paid for by the Remington Research Group.
