OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A former nurse charged last year with sexually assaulting patients at a Kansas City, Kansas, hospital is now accused of sexually assaulting patients at a Johnson County hospital.
The Kansas City Star reports 47-year-old Dennis E. Clark was arrested Monday in a case involving three women at Menorah Medical Center in 2010 and 2011. Clark is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery, aggravated criminal sodomy and attempted aggravated criminal sodomy.
The Kansas State Board of Nursing said last year that it had received complaints about Clark when he worked at Menorah, but the incidents could not be substantiated and no disciplinary action was taken. Overland Park police also investigated the complaints, but no charges were filed.
The suspect was terminated from Menorah in 2012.
Clark said in a Monday court appearance that he would hire his own attorney.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill that allows the state to change controversial limits on the amount of money welfare recipients could withdraw from ATMs.
The bill does not eliminate the restriction. It allows the secretary of the Department for Children and Families to increase or eliminate the $25-per-day limit on ATM withdrawals with a state cash assistance card.
Supporters of the legislation said it would prevent fraud but critics called it mean-spirited.
After the bill passed in April, lawmakers became aware that it might violate federal law, raising the possibility the state could lose $102 million in federal aid.
The bill also increases a tax on health maintenance organizations from 1 percent to 3.31 percent on premiums and subscription charges.
DERBY, Kan. (AP) — The owner of an antique store in Derby has pleaded guilty to three counts of theft.
The Wichita Eagle reports Sandra Ostrander, owner of Derby Antiques and More, pleaded Monday. She agreed to reimburse more than $13,000 to clients as part of a plea bargain. In exchange, Ostrander agreed to a recommendation that she be placed on probation and be allowed to live in Georgia.
According to Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, Ostrander was ordered not to own or operate any business in Kansas as part of the plea deal.
Bennett says Ostrander sold items on consignment and was accused of taking money from the sales of those items without forwarding the corresponding payments to the people who provided the goods for sale.
Today Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Northeast wind 5 to 11 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
Tonight Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. Southeast wind 7 to 13 mph.
Wednesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph.
Wednesday NightA 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 4am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light south southeast after midnight.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Light southeast wind becoming south southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Thursday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 66.
The Hays Monarchs 18 and under American Legion baseball team bounced back from their first loss of the season with a pair of blowout wins Monday night. The Monarchs hold the TriCounty Hawks to two runs, winning 10-1 in the game one and 8-1 in game two to run their record to 5-1.
The Monarchs scored two runs in the first in both games then used a five-run fifth and three run sixth to blow open the first game. They scored four in the fourth to take control of the second contest.
Jordan Gottschalk gets the complete game win in the opener, allowing one run on five hits over six innings, striking out two and walking just one. Gottschalk also had three hits and drove in three.
Jared Rack gets the complete game win in game two, allowing the one run on six hits striking out four and walking none. The Monarchs are at Larned for a doubleheader Wednesday.
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Lorenzo Cain hit a two-run homer, and normally lights-out reliever Greg Holland struggled in the ninth before the Kansas City Royals held off the Milwaukee Brewers for an 8-5 win Monday night.
The Royals won in manager Ned Yost’s first regular season game back in Milwaukee since being fired by the Brewers late in the 2008 campaign.
But the victory was more difficult than expected after the Royals entered the bottom of the ninth with an 8-2 lead.
Milwaukee got three runs with nobody out off Holland, the closer pitching in a non-save situation. Jonathan Lucroy’s second double of the night made it 8-5 to chase Holland from the game.
Holland’s ERA ballooned from 1.76 to 3.52 after allowing three runs on four hits and a walk.
Wade Davis retired the next three hitters for his eighth save.
STAFFORD – A Great Bend man was injured in an accident just before 5:30 p.m. on Monday in Stafford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Peterbilt semi driven by Scott Allan Mitchell, 28, was northbound on NE 80th Avenue fifteen miles north of Stafford.
The vehicle went into the northbound ditch and rolled onto its side. Mitchell was transported to the Stafford County Hospital. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP>
HUTCHINSON -Officials announced Monday that Kevin J. Miller, President and CEO at Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System (HRHS) since July 2011resigned his position effective immediately.
Kim Moore, Chairman of the Board of Directors for HRHS, thanked Miller for his four years of leadership in managing the organization which is comprised of Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and five other affiliates including Hospice and Homecare of Reno County, Horizons Mental Health Center, Health-E-Quip, Ray E. Dillon Living Center and Hutchinson Regional Medical Foundation.
The HRHS Board of Directors has named Ken Johnson to serve as Interim President and CEO. A national search to hire a replacement for Miller will get underway immediately. Moore and other officials didn’t release the reason for the resignation.
DETROIT (AP) — Honda is adding more than a million of its most popular vehicles to a growing recall for air bags that can inflate with too much force.
The company said Monday it’s expanding a previous recall of passenger air bag inflators from high-humidity states to the entire nation. That will add just over a million 2001 to 2005 Civics and 2003 to 2007 Accords to the recall.
Two weeks ago Honda said it would recall about 350,000 of the cars in high humidity areas. But it added more Civics and Accords after U.S. safety regulators required a national recall.
Air bags made by Takata Corp. can send shrapnel into drivers and passengers. The problem has been blamed for at least seven deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide.
Sensing a need in the community, Eagle Communications is teaming with Cerv’s for a food drive TODAY to benefit the Ellis County Community Assistance Center.
Every year the Community Assistance Center has two major foods drives a year — Trick-or-Treat so Others Can Eat in October and the Mail Carrier Food Drive in May — but these drives are no longer keeping pantry shelves full throughout the year.
Empty shelves at the center’s food pantry.
According to Theresa Hill and Laurie Mortinger, co-directors, summer presents the most pressing need for food and cash. Families have a harder time making ends meet, partly because the children are no longer in school receiving free or reduced lunches. The items that the Community Assistance Center, 208 E. 12th, is in need most of cereals, boxed mixes, pastas, and peanut butter and jelly.
Eagle Communications is teaming up with Cerv’s to have a food and cash drive from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 16. Drop-off locations will be at all Cerv’s locations on Hall, 27th and Vine, Main and at the Interstate 70 and Vine exchange. Please bring food items like cereals, pastas, box mixes, and peanut butter and jelly. Cash helps the Community Assistance Center provide perishable items such as eggs, meat, fresh fruit and vegetables.
The Community Assistance Center has been serving Ellis County for over 30 years, with Hill’s mother serving as the first director. Every year, the center helps over 5,000 people a year from Ellis County. On average, 70 to 100 food boxes are distributed for families in need. Around Christmas, the center teams up with the Angel Tree to give out 75 to 100 food boxes. Not only does the Community Assistance Center give out food, but they also provide furniture and clothing.
Economy plays a major role in how many people they are able to serve. Hill and Mortinger said an increasing number of families come in for help every month — and every month the need changes. And with the recent downturn in the oil economy, the Community Assistance Center is having trouble keeping up with demand. Ranchers occasionally donate an entire cow to the center in order to provide fresh meat. Due to factors that included poor weather, the last food drive only produced about half the normal haul.
Hill and Mortinger praised the center’s has 48 volunteers and continually spread the word of what they are doing through a newsletter and Facebook page.
Laurie Mortinger and Theresa Hill, co-directors
“Thankful people come to the Community Assistance Center and they don’t have to pay for school clothes and food,” Hill said. “It’s very rewarding to be able to help people less fortunate.”
Alberta Turman has been a volunteer since 2000 and she said she loves the opportunity to be able to help the people in her community.The work has become a family affair, as she’s often joined by her 8-year-old granddaughter.
“It’s a privilege for being able to volunteer and give time to help out,” she said. “Some of the people I volunteer with are like family. I have been blessed and it’s a blessing to serve the community.”
Another volunteer, Paulette Reichert, has been helping out at the Community Assistance Center since 1997. She said she loves being able to give back to the community, noting her favorite part about the center is the many people that she is able to help. She does a majority of the paperwork, such as checking people in and out. She also works on determining the need of people who come in, following government-mandated guidelines.
“The Community Assistance Center best reward is giving back to the community, to help people in need during a rough time,” Reichert said. “I wish we could do more. Everything is donated, and the Hays community is very blessed to have this here for them.”
“Being able to help people, it’s like Christmas, to be able to help people, plus the fact that every day is different,” Mortinger said. “Volunteers are wonderful and without them we wouldn’t be able to keep doors open.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Quapaw Tribe wants a federal court to toss out the lawsuit Kansas filed seeking to block the tribe from expanding its Downstream Casino in Oklahoma into southeast Kansas.
A filing Monday cites tribal sovereign immunity in seeking the dismissal of claims against tribal officials and entities named in the lawsuit. The tribe contends it has followed federal law.
Kansas is challenging a National Indian Gaming Commission decision allowing gambling on Cherokee County land now being used as a parking lot.
The federal government put the Kansas land in trust for the tribe in 2012. The tribe is planning a $15 million addition offering table games not allowed in Oklahoma.
A spokeswoman for the Kansas Attorney General’s office says the office will “vigorously oppose” the tribe’s motion for dismissal.
SENECA- Two people were injured in an accident just after 6:30 p.m. on Monday in Nemeha County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Marie Fett, 69, Marysville, was westbound U.S. 36 three miles east of Seneca,
The driver believed she fell asleep. She woke up on the shoulder, tried to steer back onto the road and over-corrected. She lost control and drove into the north ditch. The vehicle then went into the trees and rolled.
Fett and a passenger Welsey William Fett, 81, Marysville, were transported to Nemaha Valley Community Hospital.
He was not wearing a seat belt according to the KHP
