DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler is recalling 164,000 Jeep Cherokee SUVs worldwide to install shields that stop water from getting into the power rear lift gate controls.
The company says the recall covers the 2014 and 2015 model years. It addresses a problem that could cause a fire.
Fiat Chrysler says it learned of one fire and found that water can get into the lift gate control modules on some Cherokees and cause an electrical short. No injuries have been reported.
The company says it will notify customers when they can schedule service. In addition to the shields, Fiat Chrysler will replace control modules that have been exposed to water.
Fiat Chrysler says until repairs are made, owners of Cherokees with power lift gates should check cargo areas to make sure they are dry.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The White House says a U.S. House budget bill would hurt Kansas, but Kansas Congressional members say the president’s proposals are worse.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a statement from President Obama’s administration Wednesday details the effects federal spending legislation in the House could have on Kansas programs, parks and agencies.
The White House says Republicans could jeopardize health care coverage for 85,000 Kansans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act marketplace and result in 6,000 fewer Kansas children receiving full-day, year-round education through Head Start.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins says Obama’s 2016 budget creates $2.1 trillion in new taxes and adds $8.5 trillion to the national debt.
CJ Grover, spokesman for Rep. Kevin Yoder, says the House budget prioritizes spending and “balances in less than 10 years.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita fire investigators say arson is the likely cause of a store fire that caused about $400,000 in damages and injured two firefighters.
The Wichita Eagle reports investigators are looking for three juveniles who may have started the fire that heavily damaged the Dollar General on Tuesday.
Fire Marshal Brad Crisp says one firefighter was treated for dehydration and the other for injuries sustained when he was hit by falling debris. Both firefighters have been released from the hospital.
Crisp says investigators have been told three juveniles were in the store a short time before the fire and were asked to leave because of a disturbance. He says they reportedly returned to the store a short time later.
MANHATTAN – A Kansas man is in custody after he was arrested for the second time in six days on incest charges.
Riley County Police say officers arrested Scott David Perry, 54, of the 3000 block of Kimball Avenue in Manhattan on several charges just after noon on Tuesday.
He was charged with aggravated incest, criminal solicitation, promoting the sexual exploitation of a child and violation of a restraining order.
Perry’s bond was set at $100,000 and he is confined at the Riley County Jail.
Perry was arrested last Thursday on charges of attempted aggravated incest and solicitation to commit incest, given a $5,000 bond and bailed out.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will get a three-year extension on its waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the Tuesday announcement by the U.S. Department of Education comes as Congress is considering bills to change No Child Left Behind that could make the waiver unnecessary.
The department said Kansas has implemented sufficient measures aimed at improving students’ performance to justify extending the waiver.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools were supposed to demonstrate by 2014 that 100 percent of their students were proficient in reading and math based on their performance on yearly state assessments.
The law was due for reauthorization in 2007.
But after years of congressional gridlock on the issue, President Barack Obama’s administration began offering waivers in 2012 to states if they agreed to implement other education reform measures.
Hays City Attorney John Bird and Hays Utilities Director Bernie Kitten (lower left), along with Russell city council and staff members, listen to R9 Ranch project engineer Brian Meier (upper left) Tuesday night in Russell.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
RUSSELL–Russell Mayor Curt Mader, who grew up in the town, remembers the days when it was “us against them.”
The cities of Russell and Hays often were viewed as competing with each other.
Today, the towns are co-owners of the R9 Ranch in Edwards County, purchased in 1994 as a long-term solution to water needs for Russell and Hays.
The governing bodies of both towns, along with their respective utilities directors and city attorneys met Tuesday evening in Russell City Hall for an update of the development of the R9 Ranch. The cities want to use 7,500 of the 8,000 acre feet of water rights associated with the R9. Russell owns 18% of the ranch; Hays owns 82%.
Project change applications will be filed with the Kansas Division of Water Resources (DWR) within the next few days, according to Project Attorney David Traster of Foulston Siefkin Law LLP, Wichita.
David Traster, R9 Ranch project attorney, Wichita
“We’ll be asking to change the place of use from the ranch to Hays and Russell; to change the authorized water use from agricultural irrigation to municipal consumption; and to change the point of diversion, which will allow new municipal use wells to be drilled and consolidate the numerous existing irrigation wells to just 12 or 14 total wells,” Traster explained.
“Municipal use would be (taking less water) than agricultural use,” Russell city councilman Jim Cross pointed out. Ceasing traditional farming and converting water rights to municipal use would leave more water in the aquifer than current practices. The usage for Hays and Russell represents less than two percent of the water utilized in Edwards County.
A transfer application must also be filed which will trigger the state’s Water Transfer Act for the first time ever, and requires a public hearing. “This has never been done before,” said Traster.
“Both Hays and Russell have been talking about new water resources and have been studying options for 60 years,” said Hays city manager Toby Dougherty. “The R9 represents the most viable option for a secure, long-term water supply for the region.”
Letters of support for the project have come from the cities of Ellis, Victoria and LaCrosse, as well as Ellis County.
“We’re kind of in a no-man’s land out here where we have the population but we don’t have the water. You get west of us, you get Ogallala Aquifer water; you get east of us, you have reliable surface water as well.
“As a result we’ve had to conserve water and we’ve reached the limits of effective conservation,” Dougherty said.
“If we tighten our belts too much…we’re going to become those communities in Kansas that don’t have any water and that’s going to harm our ability to grow.
“We saw that when we were in Stage IV,” confirmed Russell city councilman Paul Phillips. Stage IV is the most critical water conservation level in Russell.
Right now the Russell/Ellis County region represents a $2.5 billion annual economy, the results found in an economic study Hays contracted with the Docking Institute at Fort Hays State University.
“So we think we can demonstrate to the state that if they want this part of the economy to continue to grow and prosper, it needs a long-term water source,” Dougherty said with a look of determination on his face.
“I think that’s what it all boils down to–the ability to get rid of that stigma of no water. A lot of you have lived here all your lives and you’ve dealt with water as an issue. Be a part of the group that ends that discussion and now we can focus all our effort, manpower and thought on something else. Think how important that would be to our communities,” he said.
Curt Mader, Russell mayor
“Nothing grows without water,” agreed Mayor Mader, who owns a greenhouse in Russell.
“I think moving forward and approaching this from a regional standpoint–instead of us against them–is the best way for all of us to move forward as a group. This is a big step,” Mader added.
Brian Meier, R9 project lead engineer, Wichita
Lead engineer Brian Meier, Burns and McDonnell, Wichita, presented a slide program of how the years-long project would be designed. The total development cost is estimated at $70 million.
The R9 Ranch is being turned back to native grass as agricultural irrigation water wells are shut down and equipment removed.
The R9 Ranch, south of Kinsley and 78 miles from Hays, is being converted to native grass as agricultural irrigation water wells are shut down and equipment removed. Talks with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism have begun about the area being used for the state’s Walk-In Hunting program along with preservation and protection of the lesser prairie chicken habitat.
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge has formally sentenced Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for the 2013 terror attacks.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. pronounced the sentence Wednesday in Boston. He was required under law to impose the jury’s death sentence for the April 15, 2013, attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.
The judge says no one will remember that his teachers or friends were fond of him. He says what they will remember is that Tsarnaev “murdered and maimed innocent people” and “did it willfully and intentionally.”
Tsarnaev looked down and rubbed his hands together as the judge sentenced him.
An appeal is automatic in death penalty cases.
Tsarnaev said that he’s sorry for the irreparable harm he caused and that he prays for the victims.
Tsarnaev addressed the court for the first time at his sentencing hearing. He gave a five-minute speech with a Russian accent, peppered with religious references and praise of Allah.
The 21-year-old paused several times, looking as if he was trying to remain composed. He stood and faced the judge while speaking, but spoke of the victims.
He says he listened to everyone who spoke on the witness stand and he noted the strength, patience and dignity of the survivors. He also said he’s sorry for the lives he’s taken.
McPHERSON – A married couple from India who themselves are unlawfully in the United States have been arrested on an indictment charging unlawful employment of aliens, document fraud, bank fraud and making false claims of U.S. citizenship according to U. S. Attorney Barry Grissom.
Arrested were Satishkumar “Sam” Patel, 47, and his wife, Daxaben S. Patel, 36, both of McPherson, Kan., who are in federal custody and scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Wichita. The indictment also charges four other aliens from India who allegedly were employed by the Patels, as well as Nitin B. Patel, 53, a Lawrence, Kan., business partner of Satishkumar Patel’s, and two companies owned by the defendants.
The investigation was led by the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Office of Special Investigations and Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, and Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the McPherson Police Department, the Kansas Department of Labor and the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday contains 45 counts arising primarily from the Patels’ operation of a gas station and convenience store at 115 W. Kansas in McPherson called Route 56 Express. The indictment also seeks criminal forfeiture of money and property related to the alleged crimes, including the business, real estate, cash, and money held in bank accounts controlled by the Patels. Many of those assets were seized today, Grissom said.
According to the indictment, Satishkumar and Daxaben Patel unlawfully entered the United States in the 1990s and have never had any lawful status here, but were able to obtain Social Security numbers by claiming to be aliens authorized to work. Since then, the indictment alleges, the Patels have pretended to be U.S. citizens, buying a home in McPherson and engaging in business activities that didn’t result in checks of their citizenship or immigration status.
They obtained Kansas driver’s licenses using their Social Security numbers and swearing they were lawfully in the U.S., according to the indictment, resulting in charges of document fraud and use of a fraudulently obtained Social Security number, all felonies. Sastishkumar and Daxaben Patel also are charged with multiple counts of harboring aliens unlawfully in the United States, both by employing them and by providing housing at the Patel’s McPherson home.
The indictment alleges the Patels were able to obtain a mortgage loan to buy the home by falsely claiming on the mortgage loan application that they were United States citizens. Satishkumar Patel also is charged with wire fraud for allegedly filing false quarterly unemployment insurance reports with the Kansas Department of Labor that listed only one employee, Daxaben Patel, for the McPherson gas station when, in fact, at least four other employees worked there.
The charges against Satishkumar Patel and Nitin B. Patel arise out of their ownership of a liquor store in Lawrence in which Satishkumar’s unlawful status in the U.S. and his ownership of the store allegedly were not properly disclosed to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Foreign nationals are not permitted to obtain a retail liquor license in Kansas, and the identities of all owners of liquor stores are required to be disclosed.
The defendants face a maximum of five years in prison on the alien harboring and Social Security fraud charges, as well as the wire and mail fraud charges. They face a maximum of three years in prison on the false claim of citizenship charges, 10 years in federal prison for document fraud, and 20 years in prison for bank fraud. As in any criminal case, a person charged with a crime is considered innocent until and unless proven guilty. An indictment merely contains allegations of criminal conduct.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal environmental officials say hundreds have signed up to testify on a renewable fuels proposal that ethanol supporters say would have stifling implications for their industry.
Last month the Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan to reduce renewable fuels requirements by 4 billion gallons in 2015 and more than 3 billion in 2016. The agency says volumes required by a 2007 law are impossibly high.
The EPA is conducting the hearings Thursday in Kansas City, Kansas, with plans to announce its final decision in November.
At least two governors, busloads of FFA members and farmers from several states are planning to rally against the proposal at a nearby park.
Ethanol backers say the EPA caved in to the demands of the petroleum industry, which is generally opposed to the standards.
It’s summer and with the hot blowing breeze comes something special to western Kansas – fairs and carnivals – and the first of the season in Hays begins tonight at 6:30 p.m. at The Mall, 2918 Vine.
“It’ll go until about 11 p.m. on weeknights and then perhaps midnight on Friday and Saturday — it just depends,” said Katie Dorzweiler, property manager for The Mall. Originally, Dorzweiler believed the carnival would begin earlier, but with the intense heat predicted in Hays this weekend, the carnival will not begin until later in the evening.
Rickey Moore, owner of Moore’s Greater Shows, added that it was best for children not to come to early during the heat, and so the carnival opening time was pushed back, encouraging safety.
While the intense heat may stifle a bit of the fun, Dorzweiler said bringing these kinds of events to Hays is important.
“When it first began, they did have carnival and different festivals and things here to promote for the community,” she said. “The Mall is neighborhood and community and so this is the hub of Hays, and Hays is the largest city in western Kansas and so, when everything that I do, every action I take I think about what is the brand, what is our personality and so I think of family and community activities. And so when Moore contacted me … it felt right aligned with what I wanna stand for here.”
Having a carnival might bring people out to The Mall, but it’s set up and run completely independently from The Mall operations, with no expense to bring the carnival here.
“They foot all the cost. They have generators that power their entire production,” Dorzweiler said. “We do offer water and things of that nature for fire hazards or anything like that but, we don’t provide any electricity, we just provide them the property and so, yeah, it’s pretty low maintenance. It takes up a good portion of our property, but it’s really really fun for families, so it works out.”
As fun as the carnival is already, Moore, who is working on site during the carnival, made the carnival even better for Hays residents this year.
“He normally sets up one specific day that’s wristband night but for our community and making it more fun and more interactive for all the families involved he’s making it wristband every night so they’ll be available Wednesday through Sunday,” Dorzweiler said.
“We’ve got quite a few rides for the family,” Moore said. “They’ll really enjoy it.”
For Moore, carnivals are more than a business, it is a way of life.
“We have been in the business, our family, for over 90 years,” Moore said. “My grandfather was in the business. He started it in 1920-something, then my father, now it’s me and then hopefully my kids will take over.
“I’ve been coming to Hays off and on for 30 to 40 years,” he said. “Hays has always been a nice town. I like Hays.”
NEW YORK (AP) – Jerry Garcia’s thoughts on his childhood, drugs, songwriting and politics will be made available this fall.
The book “Jerry on Jerry” by Dennis McNally will feature previously unreleased interviews with Garcia to mark the 20th anniversary of his death and the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.
His daughter, Trixie, says the book captures the “fun-loving weirdness and creepy corners” of her father’s mind.
Photo by Dave Ranney Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Phyllis Gilmore outlined the timing of changes in public assistance programs in a Monday news release. –
By DAVE RANNEY
Enforcement of a law designed to limit where low-income Kansas families can spend their public assistance will take longer than expected, state officials said Monday.
The new law, initially scheduled to take effect July 1, will not be enforced for at least six months.
Theresa Freed, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, attributed the delay to “a computer-system fix that needs to be done.”
Also delayed, Freed said, will be enforcement of the new law’s $25-a-day ATM withdrawal limit for public assistance accounts.
DCF, she said, is “actively working to implement this law” with Fidelity National Information Services Inc., the private contractor that oversees families’ access to their public assistance accounts through ATMs and the cash-back checkout options at grocery stores and department stores.
The company, Freed said, must reprogram the software that defines which transactions are allowed.
In keeping with the new law, families in the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program will not be allowed to use their state-issued debit cards in places including jewelry stores, tattoo parlors, theme parks, swimming pools and “smoke shops.”
Freed said the delays were not unexpected. “It just takes time,” she said.
The department, she said, also has postponed plans to give individuals in TANF — adults and children — the option of including their photo on debit cards. That option, meant to reduce fraud and abuse, will take 12 months to launch, Freed said.
Implementing the new law is expected to cost approximately $320,000 in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and $355,000 in the following fiscal year.
DCF last month announced that it had temporarily delayed plans to cut families’ lifetime access to TANF from 48 months to 36 months. Instead, families that reach the 36-month threshold will be given a six-month “grace period” and encouraged to meet with their case managers, who will help them develop plans for exiting the program.
On Jan. 31, 2016, families that have been on TANF for 36 months will be dropped from the program.
“We hope this transition period will be used to actively work with our case managers and employment services to obtain employment or training,” DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said in a news release Monday. “We know that the average client on TANF uses 18 months of eligibility, so we are confident that through our services, we can help individuals obtain self-sufficiency before they ever come close to the limit.”
DCF officials have said that about 350 TANF families will reach the 36-month threshold on or before July 1. It’s not yet clear how many will exhaust their eligibility between then and Jan. 31, 2016. Some of these families may be eligible for a temporary hardship exemption of up to 12 months.
In Kansas, the average monthly cash assistance in April for a TANF family was $111 per person, or $333 for single parent with two children.
DCF reports show that over the last five years, the number of Kansas families enrolled in TANF has fallen by almost 60 percent, from 14,200 in March 2010 to 6,000 in April 2015.
Child advocates have questioned whether the $25-a-day limit on ATM withdrawals violates federal rules that guarantee TANF families “adequate” and “no fee” access to their cash assistance.
Gilmore said DCF officials “have been in discussions with our federal partners about this provision of the law, but we have not received specific guidance about the daily ATM withdrawal limit at this time.”
Shannon Cotsoradis, chief executive with the advocacy group Kansas Action for Children, welcomed news of the delays.
“This clearly underscores that there are unintended consequences here, one of which will be the cost of implementation,” she said.
Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
