WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A North Wichita High School student has been arrested after police say he made threats of shooting another student and gun violence at another Wichita high school.

According to Wichita police Lt. James Espinoza, two Wichita West High School students approached a school resource officer just before 3 p.m. Wednesday and told him of a threat made during a Facebook chat the night before.

Espinoza said the 16-year-old student was arrested at his home and taken to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center on suspicion of criminal threat.

WICHITA- A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just before 8p.m. on Thursday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Ford Edge driven by Madison B. Douglass, 16, Wichita, was merging onto Interstate 235 from southbound Interstate 135.

The SUV made contact with the right front bumper of a semi that was southbound on Interstate 235 from the north junction.

The driver of the SUV lost control. The semi then struck the south bridge wall and came to rest on its side.

Douglass was transported to St. Francis Medical Center.
The semi driver Harrison, Matthew T. Harrison, 32, Coats, was not injured. Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

JUNCTION CITY – A preliminary hearing has been set in the case of Dr. Allan Holiday Jr.

The former Orthopedic Surgeon at Geary Community Hospital was arrested in late July and in August formally charged with one count of Aggravated Sexual Battery.

At the time of his arrest police said they had received a complaint in the case on July 26 involving a 16-year old juvenile.

During Holiday’s status check hearing Thursday, Judge Charles Zimmerman set the preliminary hearing for November 18th, at 9:30 a.m. in Geary County District Court.

On September 16, Geary Community Hospital severed ties with Holiday. He had been employed through the Flint Hills Orthopedic and Sports Medicine clinic for the past five years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal medical experts will take a closer look at a host of problems reported with the birth control implant called Essure, including chronic pain, bleeding, headaches and allergic reactions.

Essure has been sold for 13 years but the Food and Drug Administration has recently received a flurry of complaints from women implanted with the device, which is marketed as the only permanent birth control method that doesn’t require surgery.

Essure consists of two metallic coils inserted into the fallopian tubes, where they spur the growth of scar tissue that eventually blocks sperm.

Studies suggest problems with Essure are relatively rare, but thousands of women have attributed various health problems to the implant.

The agency will ask an expert panel to review the issue Wednesday and recommend possible solutions.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A food bank has wrapped up a fundraising effort that started after it was revealed that the Lawrence mayor who was leading the nonprofit had failed to pay more than $61,000 in payroll taxes.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Just Food announced Wednesday that it had reached its goal of raising enough money to pay the taxes.

Jeremy Farmer resigned as mayor of Lawrence last month, two days after he resigned from his job as executive director at the food bank. Farmer has said it was an oversight that the taxes weren’t paid. The nonprofit’s internal investigation has been turned over to law enforcement.

Board member Nancy Thellman says the organization had been “very concerned.” In letter last week to the newspaper, she said institutional bankruptcy was a possibility.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The Missouri man convicted of killing three people outside Jewish sites in Kansas is seeking a new trial.

Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. was convicted in August of capital murder for the three shooting deaths in April 2014. He said he wanted to kill Jewish people, although his victims were Christians. The Johnson County jury recommended Miller receive a death sentence.

The Kansas City Star reports Miller’s motion for a new trial cites the denial of his request for a change of venue, his inability to consult with “standby” lawyers during court hearings and not being allowed to present all of his evidence.

Miller also contends the judge gave jurors the impression that he thought Miller’s defense was “outlandish and stupid.”

The motion will be considered before sentencing Nov. 10.

By Dave Ranney

Several advocates for people with mental illness on Wednesday panned a proposal that would allow treatment facilities to hold people in crisis situations for up to 72 hours as involuntary patients.

“This is a deprivation of liberty,” Mike Burgess, a spokesperson with the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, said during a meeting of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition. It would be better, he said, to expand access to voluntary treatment.

“Instead of creating something new, we should be tweaking the existing processes to make them more community-minded,” Burgess said. “We are supportive of more voluntary opportunities for folks.”

Glen Yancey, a former executive director with Breakthrough House, a Topeka-based day program for people with severe and persistent mental illness, said the measure would mean that an already-underfunded mental health system will be expected to do more with less.

“We are in a fiscal climate of scarcity rather than adequacy,” said Yancey, who’s also a past president of the mental health coalition. “We’re talking about this because our budgets have been decimated. I’m concerned about taking away civil rights in that environment.”

The proposal, which is still in draft form, is the product of an informal coalition of law enforcement, district court and mental health officials from Wyandotte, Johnson, Douglas and Shawnee counties. The group has been collaborating for about 18 months. Julie Solomon, chief strategic management officer at Wyandot Mental Health Center, said the proposal is meant to give law enforcement officers a safe place to take someone who appears to be mentally ill and in crisis.

Many of these people often end up in jail or in a state hospital because they pose a danger to themselves or others, are uncooperative and have nowhere else to go.

“With the system the way it is now, we’re criminalizing an illness, we’re increasing stigma and we’re increasing the likelihood of their being charged with a felony,” Solomon said. “Because once they’re in jail if they assault a corrections officer, it’s an automatic felony.”

Wyandot Mental Health Center data, she said, show that an average of 65 of the center’s patients are known to be in the county jail in any given month.

“Collectively, these 65 people are spending 346 days in jail per month at $92 per person per day,” Solomon said. “And the unfortunate reality is that the vast majority of them — more than 80 percent — are in for very minor crimes … city misdemeanors.” Wade Borchers is a captain with the Lenexa Police Department who also is active in crisis intervention training efforts throughout the state.

He said his officers would much rather take someone who is in a mental health crisis and who hasn’t committed a serious crime to a treatment center than to jail or an emergency room.

“If we take them to an emergency room, we’ll routinely have an officer there for eight to nine hours, waiting,” he said. “But that’s in Johnson County. We’re fortunate. In other parts of the state, you’ll have officers spending two and three days in the emergency room.”

From a law enforcement perspective, Borchers said, it makes more sense to take someone in crisis to jail than to an emergency room because an officer standing next to a hospital bed is “no different” from a corrections officer watching them in jail. “There may be more dignity in a hospital setting, but the end result is the same,” he said.

“They’re not getting treatment, and you’ve got law enforcement people making decisions that ought to be made by mental health professionals.” Borchers said he shared the civil liberty concerns that Yancey and Burgess raised. But a lack of options —such as the proposed involuntary crisis-stabilization facilities — leads to people being taken to jail because of illness rather than crime, he said.

“What we don’t have today is right-away treatment,” he said. The proposal, Solomon said, is not a requirement of treatment centers. Instead, it would create an option for treatment facilities to hold someone for up to 72 hours. Most people in mental health crises, Solomon said, can be stabilized within 72 hours. Coalition members are expected to discuss the proposal again next month. “Part of what we do is develop consensus statements and polices,” said Susan Crain Lewis, the coalition’s president.

“And this may or may not be an issue that we can come to a consensus on. That remains to be determined.” Many coalition members, Lewis said, are wary of “building a new system that would further divert funding from the one that’s in place.”

Eric Harkness, a past president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness group in Topeka, said he won’t support the proposal. “I’m very uncomfortable with this,” he said, citing recent cuts in mental health services, the moratorium on admissions to Osawatomie State Hospital and proposed restrictions on access to Medicaid-funded prescription drugs.

“And now they want to take away my civil liberties for 72 hours?” Harkess said. “I feel like I’m under attack.” Solomon said the bill’s proponents have asked to meet with groups that represent the state’s police chiefs, sheriff’s departments, hospital administrators, county attorneys and district court judges. “We’re asking for feedback,” she said.

“We want to hear their concerns.”

Dave Ranney is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

HUTCHINSON – A man and woman accused of growing100 or more marijuana plants made an appearance in Reno County Court on Thursday morning for the reading of charges.

John Galestine and Darla Conners are charged with the cultivation of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute a controlled substance for sale.

The alleged crimes occurred in Buhler between Jan. 30, and Feb. 3, 2014.

The first count against the two is a level one-drug felony with a sentencing range of between 11-years and 8-months to 17-years in prison.

In court, Judge Joe McCarville set bond for both at $5,000, even though Conners had to be brought back to Reno County from Pennsylvania.

The two are expected back in court on October 14.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The latest developments in the re-sentencing of Kansas doctor and his wife who were convicted of running a moneymaking conspiracy at a clinic that prosecutors have linked to 68 drug-overdose deaths (all times local):

3:40 p.m.

A federal judge has upheld the decades-long prison sentences for a Kansas doctor and his wife who were convicted in a moneymaking conspiracy linked to 68 drug overdose deaths.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot on Thursday re-sentenced Dr. Stephen Schneider to 30 years in prison. Schneider’s wife, Linda, was re-sentenced to 33 years in prison.

The Haysville couple was convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to commit health care fraud resulting in deaths, unlawfully prescribing drugs, health care fraud and money laundering.

The judge ordered a new sentencing after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that a victim’s drug use must be the actual cause of death, not just a contributing factor. But on Thursday, the judge upheld the original prison sentences.

 

3:20 p.m.

A federal judge has decided not to order restitution in the case of a Kansas doctor and his wife who were convicted in a moneymaking conspiracy linked to 68 drug overdose deaths.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot said Thursday that it would be nearly impossible to assess in the criminal case how much money the couple owed former patients. Belot also noted that numerous lawsuits have been filed in the case.

The judge made the decision while deciding how to resentence the couple.

Dr. Stephen Schneider told the court he was truly sorry if he and his wife hurt the community and said he hoped for mercy. His wife, Linda, also asked the judge for compassion.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway argued this wasn’t a case for mercy. She says the deaths of at least 68 people have been linked to the clinic, and many other people became addicted.

2 p.m.

A federal judge says he anticipates an appeal of whatever happens at the new sentencing hearing for a Kansas doctor and his wife, who were convicted of a moneymaking conspiracy linked to 68 drug-overdose deaths.

U.S. District Judge Monti Belot says he plans to issue his ruling from the bench Thursday after taking up the separate cases of Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda.

The Haysville couple was convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to commit health care fraud resulting in deaths, unlawfully prescribing drugs, health care fraud and money laundering. The now 62-year-old doctor was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison; his 57-year-old wife was sentenced to 33 years.

But the judge ordered a new sentencing after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that a victim’s drug use must be the actual cause of death, not just a contributing factor.