WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A teenager will be tried as an adult in the fatal shootings of a Wichita couple during a robbery.
The Wichita Eagle reports that Sedgwick County juvenile court Judge Robb Rumsey granted a motion Wednesday for adult prosecution for Carlos Delacadena-Edwards. He is jailed in Sedgwick County on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated robbery.
The prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately return messages asking whether Delacadena-Edwards had an attorney.
Delacadena-Edwards was 17 in October when 72-year-old Godofredo Moreno and his 71-year-old wife, Martha, were killed. A police affidavit said the teen, who is now 18, admitted going to the house with another suspect. The affidavit says the other suspect shot the couple multiple times while Delacadena-Edwards waited in the living room with a BB gun.
Kansas health authorities say four additional people have tested positive for tuberculosis out of 70 tested last week at Olathe Northwest High School.
The tests were conducted after a student came down with the infection last month. More than 300 people were tested shortly afterward and 27 tested positive for the disease.
The latest tests were done after officials found additional people who may have had contact with the student. Being infected isn’t the same as having the disease, whose symptoms include fever, night sweats, coughing and weight loss.
The infected individuals will be given free chest X-rays and antibiotics to kill the TB bacteria. A second round of blood tests will be administered on May 5 because it can take eight to 10 weeks for the bacteria to show up in TB tests.
Dan Margolies is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Wednesday’s fire at the Flying J truck stop in Salina
SALINA -The 4-alarm fire at the Flying J Truck stop on North Ohio and Interstate 70 in Salina is being blamed on the improper disposal of smoking materials.
Salina Fire Marshal Roger Williams said the plastic can used for discarded smoking materials failed and set a shed behind the main building on fire.
“The fire spread up through the soffit and into the attic space of the building,” said Williams. “The insurance company will be on site Friday to assess the damage.”
There were no injuries in the blaze.
Saline County Rural fire district 2, 5, and 7 assisted on the scene Wednesday with fire operations.
Investigators from the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office were called in to assist with the origin cause investigation, according to Williams.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Washburn University fraternity has been suspended by its national leadership after sexually vulgar text messages between its members were discovered.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Phi Delta Theta International said early Thursday it suspended the Washburn chapter as it investigates the messages.
University spokesman Patrick Early says the Office of Student Life was interviewing fraternity members.
Jessica Barraclough, the director of student activities and Greek life for Washburn, say the fraternity cannot host any events or participate in any university events during the suspension but members can still live at the house.
Fraternity vice president Luke Warnken and president Jake Gregg told the Capital-Journal they wouldn’t comment until they spoke to their attorney and heard from chapter advisers.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill that specifies several dozen items poor families will not be able to buy with their welfare benefits.
The restricted items included in the bill Brownback signed Thursday include concerts, tattoos, psychics and lingerie.
Although more than 20 states have similar bills, Kansas appears to have the most extensive list of restricted items. The bill has sparked national ridicule from several groups.
But it is part of a broader welfare law taking effect in July that Brownback and his allies say is aimed at moving poor families from social services into jobs.
UNDATED (AP) – The key to getting drummer Bill Ward working with Black Sabbath again: Ozzy Osbourne has to make nice.
Ward writes on his website Osbourne has said false things about him, and because Osbourne has said them publicly, he wants Osbourne to amend his words publicly.
Ward says he doesn’t want an apology through a representative or for Osbourne to say something like, “Oh, that’s all over now.”
Ward and Black Sabbath had a falling-out in 2012 over what Ward called an unsignable contract.
Ward says he still wants a contract he can approve.
In the meantime, the Bill Ward Band is preparing to release an album called “Accountable Beasts.”
SALINA –Police in Salina are investigating a home invasion and robbery.
Police Captain Chris Trocheck said the incident occurred just after 1 a.m. on Thursday.
A 25-year-old woman reported she was confronted by two men in dark clothing outside her residence in the 600 Block of South 2nd Street.
The woman returned home after taking her boyfriend to work when she was approached by one of the men who forced her inside.
Once inside both men would not allow her to leave and threatened to kill her according to Trocheck. She was hit, suffered an abrasion on the neck and a split lip.
The men took a small amount of money and left the home.
The men had their faces covered. The victim didn’t have a definitive description for police.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The city of Topeka is offering 100 new bicycles for anyone to use for short-term recreation or commuting in the state’s first public ride-sharing program.
The Topeka Metro Bikes program started rolling Wednesday afternoon after a ceremony on the Washburn University campus.
The bikes, equipped with a basket, GPS and lock, can be found at 10 stations across Topeka. Members sign up for $25, which pays for two hours of use a day. Visitors may use bikes for $2.50 an hour. Members receive a personal identification number to unlock the bikes. The bikes can be left at any station in the city.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Washburn University President Jerry Farley says he thinks the service will help start a culture of bicycle riding in the city.
Of course, in this Twitter era, you can become “famous” in a few hours, as retweets zip a story around the world and back. But this so-called “fame” frequently blooms as “notoriety.”
Burdett Loomis
In other words, you become famous because you did something foolish or wrong or both (think Justin Bieber). Often this failure is spectacular, which leads us directly to Kansas’s growing “fame.”
Most recently, of course, our fame comes through non-stop appearances in the national media, from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and US News to the Daily Show, along with dozens of web sites. To be sure, the state has produced a host of policy gaffes and nutty political pronouncements over the past few years, but the collective reactions to the bill that restricts welfare spending has raised the level of ridicule to a new, unprecedented level.
The basics are well known. The Legislature passed and the governor has now signed a bill that drastically limits the use of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds, eliminating spending for everything from the mundane (movies) to the mean-spirited (swimming pool admission) to the absurd (cruises). In addition, ATM withdrawals would be limited to $25 per day, thus assuring that many recipients would incur substantial bank fees.
The legislation, brilliantly given the Orwellian title of the Hope, Opportunity and Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE) Act, represents the acme of the Legislature’s 2015 buffoonery, as it avoids dealing with a $600 million shortfall in revenues.
This legislation has received its fair share of attention, in the state, national, and even international press, so my purpose here is not to pile on as to the bill’s substance. Rather, we should worry about the range and depth of reactions to these news stories, editorials, blogs, and comedy shows.
Kansas has, once again, become famous, but in the worst possible way.
The young, hip, smart audience for Jon Stewart or John Oliver finds Kansas being mocked, not just in one-liners, but in Stewart’s 8-minute barrage of sarcasm and ridicule.
Legislators may see this as unfair, representing some despicable, predictable coastal bias, but talented young entrepreneurs and prospective employees will likely cross off the possibility of ever working here.
US News, scarcely a liberal publication, quotes state Sen. Michael O’Donnell (R- Sedgwick), a lead advocate for the bill: “This is about having a great life. The magazine snaps back “Nonsense. This is about political bullying, nothing more.”
Referring to the combination of guns and welfare legislation recently passed, one website asks, rhetorically: “People Can Be Trusted with Guns But Not Welfare?” Of course, the welfare legislation does not restrict spending on firearms and ammo.
The slings and arrows go on and on, not just on recent legislation, but on a host of recent policies enacted with little foresight. What do we get? The HOPE Act. Billions of dollars in declining revenues and program cutbacks.
Pretty clearly the state has more problems in managing money than do the poor.
That’s bad enough, but what’s worse is the nation’s conclusion that we truly are a bunch of rubes, whose elected officials continually seek out non-problems, while ignoring real ones.
When you think things can’t get worse, they do. The Kansas Department of Children and Families responded on Facebook to “to outrageous political attacks by liberal media organizations and activists” with what it called the “facts” of the agency’s virtuous performance. This simply recycled the TANF story for another round of jokes, thus demonstrating the political ineptness of the agency.
To be sure, right-wing legislators have scored some political points with their constituents, but at what price? Once again, Kansas is ridiculed, not respected. We win notoriety, not fame, and the damage done will far outweigh whatever measly benefits lower income taxes might produce.
Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.
Retired ECRF Dick Klaus holds a picture of him holding several catches. “All the fish were thrown back in the water,” he said.
Tuesday marked the last day of 36 years of service to the Ellis County Rural Fire Department, as Director Dick Klaus retired.
Klaus started his career as a volunteer for the ECRF company in Schoenchen and was appointed director in 1992. He said he will not miss the fires, but he will miss the people he has worked with.
“Over the years, I have had a lot of firefighters come and go, some that were here when I came on and still here, and they are a great bunch of guys. They know what they are doing, and I think the world of them,” Klaus said. “I have met a lot of different people on fires that I didn’t know before from being on their property, so it’s been an experience.”
Klaus said he his proud he is leaving ECRF better off than when he came on board, noting one of his proudest moments over the years is obtaining new equipment for his firefighters, including new water tender trucks last spring that ECRF to arrive to rural fires with enough water to extinguish fires in a rural areas.
“And we used them too,” he said, recalling how new equipment was critical in fighting last year’s string of arson fires.
Retired ECRF Dick Klaus presents a plaque honoring him as Fire Chief of the Year in 2012.
Klaus said he does not imagine his life being much different after retirement except he will have “less paperwork” and more time to enjoy his favorite hobbies — fishing, hunting and spending time on his farm 10 miles west of Schoenchen.
Fellow colleague and fishing buddy Bill Ring, who serves as Ellis County Director of Emergency Management, said Klaus will be missed.
“He’s been a great asset to the county,” Ring said. “But I think he is going to enjoy his retirement. I think he has put in the years and deserves be able to go out and fish, hunt play at his farm and not have to worry about responding in the middle of the night like we all do.”
Klaus will also serve as mayor of Schoenchen after being elected to the position April 7 and will continue to be on hand to help mentor his replacement, former Hays Fire Department firefighter Darin Myers.
Retired ECRF Chief Dick Klaus as Shoenchen Rural Fire Chief in the 1980s.
“I have spent the last few weeks getting as much advice as I can from (Klaus),” Myers said. “He has said several times I will be able to call if I need him. … He will still be around to help out — that will be good.”
MAPLE HILL – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 7a.m. on Thursday in Wabaunsee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Ford Explorer driven by Jeffrey R. Morris, 48, Lawrence, was westbound on Interstate 70 southwest of Maple Hill.
The vehicle and drifted off the edge of the roadway. It struck the ditch, hit a tree and rolled.
Morris was transported to Stormont Vail.
The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita State University’s Foundation will use most of a $5 million gift to support its honors college.
The gift from Bill and Dorothy Cohen was announced Wednesday. Bill Cohen founded IMA Financial Group in Wichita.
The university said in a news release that $4.75 million of the gift will go to the honors college, which will be renamed the Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College. Another $250,000 will help create the Dorothy and Bill Cohen fund for University Libraries.
The university said $2.25 million will endow scholarships for honors college students to pay for study abroad, undergraduate research, internships and attendance at national conferences. Another $1.5 million will endow honors college faculty fellows, with $1 million will endow a leadership academy.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Patients who have kidney transplants at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City are now able to get some related treatments in Wichita.
A clinic in Wichita officially opened Wednesday and will accept patients for pre- and post-treatment care for kidney transplants.
Dennis McCulloch, spokesman for the hospital, says the clinic expects to receive about 300 patient visits per year. A typical transplant patient would be seen two to four times before surgery and five or more times after surgery, depending on complications.
The Wichita Eagle reports most of the transplant specialists will commute from the hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.
The hospital did 127 kidney transplants and 106 liver transplants last year. The clinic hopes to expand to liver transplant services in the future.
