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Month: April 2015
Early storm damage estimate for Wichita: $300,000
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Preliminary estimates peg the damage from last week’s powerful storm at $300,000 for Wichita.
The Wichita Eagle reports that strategic communications director Ken Evans says the estimate doesn’t include damage at the city’s airports. Winds reached speeds of nearly 90 mph in last week’s storm, leavings thousands of residents in south central Kansas without power
Jabara in northeast Wichita sustained substantial damage, including the total collapse of a main hangar. Evans says runway lights are still not operating, limiting flights to daylight hours only.
Polls are open Tuesday for city/school election
On Tuesday’s ballot, there are four candidates for three seats on the Hays City Commission.
Incumbent Henry Schwaller, president of the real estate investment firm Henry Schwaller and Associates and an FHSU business management professor, will be on the ballot along with three political newcomers — Lance Jones, a career counselor with the National Guard; James Meier, a HaysMed pharmacist; and Scott Simpson, owner of Best Radiator.
There are four seats open on the Hays USD 489 Board of Education, with six candidates. Incumbents Greg Schwartz and Sarah Rankin will be joined on the ballot by Leslie Blagrave, Luke Oborny, Dr. Paul Adams and Miranda Fox.
Each of the candidates took part in a forum last month at Fort Hays State University. Click HERE to watch a replay of the forum.
Polls are open in Ellis County from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Sheriff makes arrest in Great Bend, Russell car thefts
GREAT BEND -Barton County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating a series of stolen vehicles and stolen property originating at various locations in Barton County.
On April 1, deputies executed a search warrant at a residence located at 4 NW. 30 Road, Area 9, lot 12, All Seasons Mobile Home Park.
Deputies recovered several stolen items as well as developed information concerning at least three stolen vehicles.
Two of the vehicles were recovered by the Barton County Sheriff’s Office including a 2004 Ford F350, taken in Russell County and a Ford F250 stolen in Barton County.
Authorities say it is suspected both of the vehicles were used to facilitate burglaries in and around Barton and Russell counties.
A third vehicle was seized by the Great Bend Police Department in the early morning hours of April 2, when a driver attempted to flee from officers in the City of Great Bend.
The vehicle had been connected to thefts being investigated by the Sheriff’s office and was impounded at the Sheriff’s office garage.
Subsequently a search warrant was obtained by Sheriff’s Detective David Paden and in the process of examination, it was discovered the vehicle was bearing stolen registration from one of the other vehicles stolen. Methamphetamine was also found in the vehicle.
The driver of the vehicle Randy J. Dent, 45 arrested by the Great Bend Police Department for fleeing and eluding has also been charged by the Sheriff’s office for possession of methamphetamine and possession of stolen property.
Dent is being held in the Barton County jail in lieu of $5000 bond for the city charges and $10,000 bond for charges relating to the controlled substances and stolen property.
The investigation is ongoing.
Kansas religious objections law similar to derided measures
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Religious objections measures in Arkansas and Indiana that prompted national criticism are similar to a law Kansas enacted quietly two years ago with the state’s leading gay-rights group officially neutral.
Advocates on both sides see a shift in the political context surrounding the debate over protecting individuals, groups and businesses objecting to same-sex marriage on religious grounds.
When Kansas enacted its law in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court hadn’t agreed to consider whether same-sex marriage must be allowed in all states.
Also, Kansas wasn’t in the national spotlight until 2014 over an unsuccessful measure on same-sex marriage that critics said would allow widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians.
The 2013 Kansas law says state or local governments can’t substantially inhibit a person’s exercise of religion without a compelling reason.
Kan. man gets sentenced for beheading killing
LYNDON, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison in the 2011 beheading of another man with a guitar string.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that James Paul Harris was sentenced Monday in Osage County District Court for involuntary manslaughter in the death of 49-year-old James Gerety. Harris originally was charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded no contest to the reduced charge in December.
A former girlfriend testified last year that Harris told her he shot the victim in the stomach, tortured him for two days and then cut off his head. Prosecutors allege Harris kept Gerety’s head for months for some type of religious practice. Part of the skull was found in March 2012 in rural Osage County on land where Harris’ father lived.
Water$mart meeting postponed
The Water$mart Landscape Series: Design for Drought – Xeriscaping Basics, originally scheduled for Monday night, has been postponed.
The series has been reschecduled to 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 20.
For more information or to RSVP, call the Ellis County Extension Office at (785) 628-9430.
1 hospitalized after Kan. school bus accident
WICHITA – One person was injured in an accident just after 8 a.m. on Monday in Sedgwick County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Chevy Express Van school bus driven by Kimberly M. Voldrich, 30, Wichita, was on the ramp from U.S. 54 Eastbound to Interstate 135 Northbound.
Due to the combination of wet roadways and speed the driver lost control of the van and struck a bridge rail.
A passenger Jessica Ambroroso, 31, Wichita, was transported to Wesley Medical Center.
Voldrich and three children were not injured.
The KHP reported Ambroroso was not wearing a seat belt.
KU’s Jo Jo White to be inducted into Naismith Hall of Fame
Kansas Athletics
INDIANAPOLIS – Two-time Kansas men’s basketball All-American and seven-time NBA All-Star Jo Jo White joined the best of the best among his life’s work on Monday. White was one of six individuals announced as making up the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s class of 2015.
White donned the Crimson and Blue from 1966-69 under the direction of head coach Ted Owens. An All-America selection in 1968 and 1969, White was a three-time All-Big Eight Conference honoree and KU’s Most Valuable Player for three-straight seasons. The Saint Louis native scored 1,286 career points, which still ranks 29th all-time at Kansas.
His four years at KU saw the Jayhawks win two Big Eight Championships, three Big Eight Holiday Tournaments, make two NCAA Tournament appearances and finish runner-up in the NIT. He was a member of the 1968 Gold Medal USA Olympic basketball team and played 11 seasons in the NBA.
Drafted by Boston with the ninth overall pick in 1969, White led the Celtics to NBA Championships in 1974 and 1976, where in the latter he was named NBA Finals MVP. A seven-time NBA All-Star, he averaged 18.3 points per game in his 10-year Celtics career, shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free throw line, while he averaged 21.5 points per game in 80 playoff games.
A major impact at the collegiate and professional levels, White’s No. 10 was retired by the Celtics in 1982, one of 21 numbers that hang in the TD Garden rafters. His Kansas jersey was officially retired on Jan. 27, 2003.
The electees will be enshrined during Hall of Fame weekend, Sept. 10-11, at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Along with White, fellow former NBA players Dikembe Mutombo and Spencer Haywood also were voted in, as was longtime referee Dick Bavetta, college and NBA coach John Calipari, and WNBA legend Lisa Leslie.
White marks the 18th Jayhawk all-time to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is named in honor of the game’s inventor and KU’s first head coach, Dr. James Naismith.
Hays 19-year-old arrested after alleged break-in Friday
By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post
A 19-year-old Hays man was arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary and criminal damage to property after allegedly breaking a door window in an attempt to gain entry to a residence on the 400 block of West Seventh early Friday morning.
According to Hays Police Department Lt. Brandon Wright, two people were inside the residence when the incident occurred and called 911 at 4:58 a.m.
Wright said officers from the HPD and Fort Hays State University Police arrived at the scene in just a little more than 2 minutes.
Wright said the suspect, Jerry A. Vest, 19, Hays, was quickly located and taken into custody.
The occupants in the house were not injured.
Two-day Cottonwood Project features local, FHSU musicians
FHSU University Relations
This year’s Cottonwood Project, a musical celebration hosted by the Department of Music and Theatre at Fort Hays State University, will feature Lucy and Friends on Tuesday, April 7, and the instrumentals from Elvis Costello’s 14th studio album, “The Juliet Letters,” on Saturday, April 11.
Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in Palmer Hall, which is located inside FHSU’s Malloy Hall. The cost of admission is $6 for adults 18 and older, $4 for seniors 55 and older, and free for students with valid student ID.
Lucy and Friends features Hays native Lucy Ginther in an evening of British music. The Tuesday night performance combines the musical styles of Ben Cline, chair of the Department of Music and Theatre; Pam McGowne, staff accompanist; Hilary Shepard, instructor of music and theatre; and Tom Meagher, Wilson Elementary School principal.
On Saturday night, two FHSU professors and three special guests will perform musical arrangements from Costello’s album. Cline will be on cello; Dr. Joseph Perniciaro, associate professor of music and theatre, is the tenor; and Ginther will play viola, Veronica Pigeon and Laura Black will be the violinists.
8 years after tornado, Greensburg to have theater again UPDATE
GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Greensburg is getting a movie theater again after a massive tornado leveled much of the Kiowa County town eight years ago.
The Twilight Theater will begin showing films this month, with grand opening events scheduled for April 24-25.
The Hutchinson News reports the theater opened in 1917 and was a hub of activity until it closed in 1989. It later reopened and operated as a nonprofit theater until the tornado. Renovations had been scheduled to begin in May 2007, but an EF5 tornado destroyed 95 percent of the town that month.
Funds were raised again. Theater executive director Adam Wagner says new the building has state-of-the-art sound, lighting and concessions systems.
Kiowa County schools will also use the building as an auditorium.
Ellsworth-area wind farm sold
A San Francisco company has purchased a central Kansas wind farm.
Click HERE for the story from The Wichita Eagle.