Seven Fort Hays State University students from the greater Kansas City, Kan., metropolitan area have each been awarded a $500 scholarship from the Hispanic Development Fund. The university has a partnership with HDF and will match each scholarship, bringing the total for each student to $1,000.
Recipients are organized by zip code.
Kansas City (66102): Mercedes Caballero, a 2015 Bishop Ward High School graduate, is a freshman majoring in political science.
Vilma Maldonado, a 2013 Bishop Ward High School graduate, is a junior majoring in management.
Ricardo Zamora, a 2014 Bishop Ward High School graduate, is a sophomore majoring in international business and economics.
Kansas City (66103): Citlalli Corona, a 2012 Bishop Ward High School graduate, is a senior majoring in tourism and hospitality management.
Kansas City(66109): Viviana Lizarraga, a 2015 Bishop Ward High School graduate, is a freshman majoring in justice studies.
Kansas City (66112): Melanie Arellano, a 2014 Bishop Ward High School graduate, is a sophomore majoring in social work
Guadalupe Ceron-Lopez, a 2012 Turner High School graduate, is a senior majoring in elementary education.
The HDF scholarship fund program was created in 1985 to invest in the younger generations in the Hispanic community in the Greater Kansas City, Kan., area.
In addition to other requirements, recipients must also live in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area which includes Clay, Jackson, Platte, Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle says the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage will require legislators to examine state laws protecting religious freedom.
The Wichita Republican said Friday that legislators need to make sure that Kansas residents who personally oppose gay marriage are not required to perform same-sex weddings or participate in them.
Lawmakers considered such a measure last year, but it drew strong protests from gay rights advocates and some business leaders and stalled in the Senate.
Supporters of last year’s measure said it would have protected individuals and businesses that oppose gay marriage. But critics said the measure was written so broadly that it would have allowed widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Wagle said she’s disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has been found guilty of trying to kill his wife and two sons.
The Wichita Eagle reports Pettix McMillan was convicted Thursday of three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office says McMillan could be ordered to serve 12 1/2 years to more than 54 years in prison when he’s sentenced later this year.
Prosecutors said McMillan shot his wife in her arm and neck during an argument in the garage of their home on March 24, 2014, and then turned the gun on their 5- and 13-year-old boys. All three survived.
The prosecutor’s office says he was convicted after a four-day trial. Officers testified there had been several domestic violence calls to the home, including one six weeks before the shooting.
HUTCHINSON -The Number of Pertussis or whooping cases being investigated in Reno County has grown to 49.
The Reno County Health Department says that 18 cases are confirmed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The number whooping cough cases has been increasing over the past couple of months, and the health department is urging those who are most susceptible to get a vaccine.
The Reno County Health Department said they still have free vaccine available and those wanting the vaccine can simply walk into the clinic, or make an appointment.
OSAGE COUNTY- A Salina teen was injured in an accident just after 6 p.m. on Friday in Osage County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Buick Rendezvous driven by Anna Kay Zuercher,19, Salina, was southbound on U.S. 75 just south of the Shawnee County line.
The driver fell asleep. The vehicle left the roadway. The driver overcorrected and the vehicle rolled.
Zuercher was transported to Stormont Vail.
She was properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that the power brake assist can fail on some Ford F-150 pickup trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe covers about 250,000 pickups from 2011 and 2012 with 3.5-liter six-cylinder engines.
The agency says it has 32 complaints alleging that electric vacuum assist pumps can fail, causing loss of power brakes and increased braking effort. Two crashes were reported but no injuries.
In all the complaints, no warnings were issued. The agency says the complaints are increasing. About 60 percent coming in the past nine months.
Investigators will look into the cause of the problem and how often it happens. The probe could lead to a recall.
Ford says it’s cooperating. Customers with problems should contact their dealer.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) —A Kansas legislative panel has unanimously dismissed a complaint against a House member who used the words “racist bigots” to describe supporters of a bill denying in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.
Republican Rep. Mark Kahrs made the motion Friday to dismiss, saying he thought Rep. Valdenia Winn’s comments at a March 19 House Education Committee meeting were slanderous but protected by the First Amendment.
Winn called the bill “an example of institutional racism” and apologized to students and parents whose lives “are being hijacked by the racist bigots who support this bill.”
Nine members of the committee signed the complaint against her.
Kahrs called Winn’s statements an unfair, irresponsible attack on fellow committee members and suggested that she apologize.
Winn said after the hearing she doesn’t intend to do that.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP legislative leaders are condemning a court ruling that declares key parts of the state’s new school funding law unconstitutional.
Brownback said Friday that the state would appeal the decision from a three-judge panel in Shawnee County District Court. He said the panel overstepped its authority.
The law took effect in April and scrapped a per-student formula for distributing aid to the state’s 286 school districts. Top Republicans said the judicial panel is ordering the state to restore parts of the old formula and immediately provide millions of extra dollars.
Senate Majority Leader and Nickerson Republican Terry Bruce called the ruling “utter nonsense.” House Speaker and Stilwell Republican Ray Merrick said it is “87 pages of judicial activism.”
But Democratic legislative leaders praised the decision.
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Office of the Governor
TOPEKA–Governor Sam Brownback today issued a statement following a decision issued by the three-judge panel of the Shawnee County District Court.
“The three-judge panel has once again violated its Constitutional authority with this ruling. It has now taken upon itself the powers specifically and clearly assigned to the legislative and executive branches of government. In doing so, it has replaced the judgment of Kansas voters with the judgment of unelected activist judges.
“For the first time ever, the state will invest more than $4 billion in K-12 education in Kansas in Fiscal Year 2016.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the felony murder conviction of a Fort Scott man whose wife died in an arson fire.
In an opinion released Friday, the court rejected arguments made by Brent Bollinger in an appeal of his life sentence for the death of Brenna Nicole Bollinger. She died in a fire at the couple’s home in October 2013. The couple’s 2-year-old son, Bryson, was hospitalized for nearly a month after the fire. Bollinger also suffered serious burns in the fire.
Brenna Bollinger had filed for divorce but still lived at the house.
Bollinger argued in his appeal that his wife had no interest in the home, which is an essential part of the state’s arson law. He also claimed the prosecutor made inappropriate comments during the trial.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 20-year-old Topeka man accused of driving a vehicle loaded with what he thought were explosives to Fort Riley won’t attend an upcoming hearing in his case.
John T. Booker Jr. was arrested April 10 near Junction City as part of an FBI operation that included two informants to whom authorities say Booker detailed his plans to join the Islamic State terrorist group and die in a suicide bombing mission at Fort Riley.
Booker has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to damage property by means of an explosive, and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports court documents show Friday that Booker has waived his right to appear Monday at a case hearing.
MCPHERSON — McPherson County Attorney David Page has ruled that the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer in the death of 56-year-old Timothy Lloyd of Kanopolis was lawful and justified.
The KBI investigated the June 4, 2014 death of Lloyd, who was unarmed when police say he charged at an officer.
Authorities said when officers were called to investigate a hit-and-run accident in that city, the suspect vehicle was gone. Officers eventually found Lloyd. Police say he charged at one officer, who fired several shots. Lloyd was pronounced dead at a McPherson hospital.
Page says in his report that while McPherson Police officers were attempting to locate Lloyd, he concealed himself in a ditch within a tree row along the side of a gravel road. Upon being discovered by a McPherson Police Officer and being ordered to show his hands, Lloyd ignored the officer’s commands and instead, charged at the officer.
That officer initially attempted to create distance between himself and Lloyd by quickly moving backward away from Lloyd. As Lloyd continued to charge at the officer, he was yelling for the officer to shoot him while at the same time reaching into and removing an item or items from his waistband, which he then held with both hands and pointed at the officer.
Page says that officer reasonably believed Lloyd to be an imminent lethal threat. The officer fired at Lloyd to stop his attack, the commission of a forcible felony and to stop what Page called “the imminent threat to human life.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple has submitted a DNA sample at the order of a court seeking to determine if he’s their child’s biological father.
Shawnee County District Judge Mary Mattivi earlier issued orders for Marotta to submit DNA. Kansas wants Marotta declared the father so he can be forced to pay child support. The state started pursuing the case in 2012 after the couple split up and one of the women applied for state health insurance for the child. Marotta claims he signed a contract waiving his parental responsibilities.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports he took the DNA test Friday.
Mattivi ordered the test results sealed while the Kansas Supreme Court resolves a motion Marotta’s attorney filed asking for steps that include replacing Mattivi.
President Mirta M. Martin of Fort Hays State University was in Washington, D.C., on June 25 to testify about the university’s experience with its China programs to a subcommittee of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Dr. Martin was asked to address several broad areas of interest in a hearing titled “Is Academic Freedom Threatened by China’s Influence on U.S. Universities?”
Her overall answer to that question, as it relates to FHSU’s experience, was a “no.”
“All of the challenges we have faced have been addressed together with our Chinese partners under the auspices of their respective government education commissions,” she said in the conclusion to the prepared portion of her testimony. “The Fort Hays State University-Sias and Fort Hays State University-SNU partnerships are widely noted in the higher education circles as a model of U.S.-Sino cooperation.”
She gave the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations a brief overview of FHSU’s China history, from its beginning in 1999 when the University was approached to partner with a private university founded in China the year before.
Sias International University, in Zengzhou (pronounced JUNGjoe), China, Henan (pronounced hooNON) Province, was looking for a regionally accredited American university partner to offer dual bachelor’s degrees for Chinese students.
Fort Hays State University, which has had a strong distance education component since 1911, signed an initial partnership agreement in 2000. In 2003, FHSU also began a partnership with Shenyang Normal University (SNU) in Shenyang (pronounced shinYONG).
The university created what it calls a “cross-border” model of education for its China programs. In this model, the university’s faculty live in China and educate Chinese students in English.
“Our faculty have total control over the design and content of our curriculum,” she told the committee members. “They select the textbooks, prepare exams and quizzes, assess students and issue grades.”
The program began with a Bachelor of General Studies degree at Sias. In 2007, said Dr. Martin, the China Ministry of Education asked Fort Hays State to expand its offerings to “more traditional Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees.”
In 2015, students at FHSU’s Chinese partner institutions can earn a B.B.A.; a B.A or B.S. in organizational leadership; a B.A. in global business English; a B.S. in information networking and telecommunications; or a B.A. in political science. All the courses are taught in English.
The subcommittee asked Dr. Martin to address several broad areas, including details of how the educational model works and how FHSU came to be in China.
The committee also had several specific areas it wanted Dr. Martin to address:
Has there been any censorship by Chinese authorities of content offered by Fort Hays State University?
Dr. Martin said that, at first, the Chinese government asked FHSU to provide materials and resources for review. The materials were approved quickly.
“There was no censorship of any content or any courses by the government or by the university partners,” she said. “The Chinese government has not asked to review curriculum, content or faculty credential since then.”
Has Fort Hays State ever had to replace a textbook or other content in China?
Dr. Martin explained that Fort Hays State has controlled the selection of textbooks and owns the courses, which are taught by the university’s faculty. Texts in China sometimes differ from texts used for the same courses on the FHSU campus, but those choices were “made to accommodate the partner institution’s concerns about textbook costs or vendor access and with the full approval of our faculty.”
“Ultimately,” she said, “textbook selection has always remained with Fort Hays State University.”
How do our faculty display principles of academic freedom and transparency?
“Faculty display principles of academic freedom and transparency through their teaching, research and discussions with students. Discussions regarding learning objectives for the degree programs, majors and individual courses have all been given and accepted in an atmosphere of transparency,” she said.
Faculty have been free to teach and engage in scholarly activity appropriate for their disciplines without interference by the partner institution,” she said.
Has Fort Hays State experienced challenges with technology infrastructure and social media?
Bandwidth at the partner institutions is improving, she said, “but challenges still exist.” Plus, the Chinese Internet firewall made it necessary for FHSU to put four servers in China so that the course delivery software could be more effective. She also pointed out other interruptions: official blocks to virtual private networks that hindered access to some material; a total block of Gmail last year; a block to Facebook after 2009; and generally erratic communication channels to and from China.
Still, she noted, “the Internet is thriving in China.” In May of this year, she said, FHSU’s “vice president for technology held meetings with her counterparts at the partner universities to address technology infrastructure challenges and availability.”
“They were open to her observations and suggestions. We will continue these conversations.”
Dr. Martin concluded by addressing the overall geopolitical situation in China. She said China’s president has been open about his plans to expand China’s influence in the world by building an “innovative society” with “strong Chinese tech firms that can compete internationally.” These goals, rather than hindering FHSU’s China partnerships, she said, “may have strengthened them, because through our partnership, we are highlighting all that is great in America.”
“During these times of complex political and economic change, the continued success of these partnerships serves as a ‘best practice’ model where both institutions and their students benefit greatly,” she said.
Dr. Martin was one of five witnesses at the June 25 hearing. The others were:
• Susan V. Lawrence, a specialist in Asian affairs for the Congressional Research Service.
• Jeffrey S. Lehman, vice chancellor of New York University-Shanghai.
• Yaxue Cao, founder and editor of China Change, which, according to its About page, is “a website devoted to news and commentary related to civil society, rule of law, and rights activities in China. It works with China’s democracy advocates to bring their voices into English and to help the rest of the world understand what people are thinking and doing to effect change in China.”
• Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the U.S., from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
The witness list, with links to the full text of their statements, is available HERE.
FHSU University Relations
