HUTCHINSON – A Kansas man convicted after he led officers on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle wanted to withdraw his plea in the case, but that was denied Friday by Judge Tim Chambers.
Benjamin McKinney, 22, Hutchinson was then sentenced to a total of two years and five months in prison.
Charges included aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony flee and elude, theft and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
In June of 2014, a stolen vehicle reported to Hutchinson Police.
The vehicle was spotted in Haven and that led to a sheriff’s deputy attempting to make a traffic stop on Kansas 96.
McKinney, driving the vehicle, refused to stop and that prompted a chase that went across the eastern part of Reno County briefly into Harvey County and ended near Trail West and Worthington Roads after McKinney drove into a ditch.
The keys were apparently left in the vehicle and there was also a credit card inside that was allegedly used in Wichita, leading to the charge of criminal use of a financial card.
At the time of his arrest, McKinney was on probation for another flee and elude case from 2013.
On Tuesday, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church will host its next Laundry Love event.
Laundry Love-Hays is part of a national initiative (www.laundrylove.org) that seeks to help wash the clothes and bedding of individuals or families in financial distress.
Laundry Love-Hays takes take place the third Tuesday of every month, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the 27th and Hall Street Laundromat.
Members of St. Michael’s provide detergent, quarters and a friendly face. Guests will be able to wash/dry up to three loads at no cost to them if they are single, and families will be able to wash/dry up to five loads. Guests are not required to demonstrate their eligibility. This ministry is offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
To learn more, call Casey Rohleder at (785) 259-4672 or [email protected].
Isolated thunderstorms will be possible across west central and extreme southwest Kansas this evening. Otherwise mostly sunny skies are expected with a high in the 80s.
Tonight, any lingering thunderstorm activity will taper off and leave mostly clear skies and lows falling into the low 60s.
Above average temperatures are in the forecast for Monday as temperatures soar into the upper 90s. Warmer temperatures are expected to continue most of next week.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 86. South wind 7 to 17 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. South wind 14 to 16 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 20 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 70. Breezy, with a south wind 18 to 23 mph.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 95. Windy, with a south wind 18 to 25 mph.
At 3:30 a.m. Sunday a fire in a storage unit adjacent to the Hays Municipal Golf Course, 1450 Golf Course Rd., was being contained by at least six fire trucks, along with members of the Hays Police Department, as a fire, caused by an unknown source, ravaged a storage unit north of the course.
While no injuries are being reported at this time, the large blaze had consumed at least one unit in the storage facility and several others had been opened to contain the blaze.
As firefighters reported to the scene large flames were pouring out of the building at the far west side of the multi unit storage facility, but were extinguished quickly although smoke billowed from the building for at least an hour as crews worked to extinguish the fire.
The Hays Fire Department released the following information about the fire Sunday morning:
At 3:57 AM on Sunday, September 13, 2015, the City of Hays Fire Department, assisted by the Hays Police Department and Ellis County EMS, was dispatched to a building fire at the Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course; 1450 Golf Course Road. On arrival, firefighters found a golf cart storage building with fire spreading throughout. The Ellis County Rural Fire Department was called to assist.
Firefighters used four hose lines to bring the fire under control. Because of the limited water supply at the golf course, a tanker truck from the Rural Fire Department was used to augment the fire hydrant water supply.
The fire was discovered by a passing motorist. The building was heavily damaged by the fire. There were no injuries.
The cause of the fire was accidental but due to the heavy damage, the most probable cause was not determined.
Seven fire trucks and twenty four firefighters responded. The last firefighters left the scene at 5:55 AM.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. airlines are posting better results for on-time performance and fewer cancelations but consumer complaints are still rising.
The Department of Transportation said Thursday that 78.1 percent of flights on the leading airlines arrived on time in July. That’s up from 74.8 percent the previous month and 75.6 percent in July 2014.
Cancelations are down to 0.9 percent, about half the rate for June and for July 2014. The government says it’s the lowest July cancellation rate in 21 years of comparable records.
Consumers filed more than 2,000 airline-related complaints with the government, a 5 percent increase over the previous month and 31 percent higher than a year ago.
The federal health reform law known as the Affordable Care Act prevents insurers from considering pre-existing health conditions when setting premiums for consumers. But they are able to consider age, location and tobacco use.
And that means some Kansans who smoke are charged higher insurance rates, which may discourage low-income smokers from getting health coverage, according to a new issue brief from the Kansas Health Institute.
“The surcharge was meant to more fairly distribute tobacco-related health care costs to the tobacco users themselves, rather than to all enrollees in health insurance plans,” said Linda Sheppard, KHI strategy team leader and senior analyst. The ACA allows states to set a surcharge for tobacco users of up to 50 percent of health insurance premiums.
For 2015, insurers offering coverage to Kansans through healthcare.gov are applying tobacco use surcharges from 0 percent to 44 percent. A 2013 report showed that 20 percent of Kansas adults are smokers.
“As allowed by the federal rules, the surcharge is higher for older enrollees in Kansas who smoke than for younger ones,” according to the brief. People seeking insurance must self-report their tobacco use — defined as four or more times a week for the last six months — although insurers can’t rescind coverage for those who submit false reports.
They can, however, retroactively apply the surcharge for people who don’t report their tobacco use. Because of the self-reporting system, insurers are concerned that some consumers are under-reporting their tobacco use.
But, according to the brief, the Kansas insurers said “reviewing claims and medical records was cost-prohibitive and not a good use of their time and resources.” Some consumer groups, such as the American Lung Association, and health policy experts had concerns that the surcharge would discourage low-income tobacco users from buying health insurance.
Because of those concerns, a few states limited the maximum surcharge or prohibited it. But Kansas defaulted to the federal limit of 50 percent of premium cost. The Kansas Health Institute is the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service. –
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Paxton Lynch threw for 354 yards and two scores, Memphis scored on its first five possessions of the second half and the Tigers rolled to a 55-23 victory over Kansas on Saturday night.
The Tigers (2-0) also piled up 281 yards rushing and five touchdowns, one apiece from five different players. They finished with 651 yards of total offense, while their point total was the most the Jayhawks (0-2) had allowed since Georgia Tech hung 66 on them on Sept. 17, 2011.
Memphis also pushed its winning streak to nine straight dating to last season, and snapped an infuriating 19-game skid against teams from power conferences.
The Jayhawks, riding a five-game losing streak, are still searching for their first victory for coach David Beaty. The last time Kansas lost its first two games was 2002.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration’s quest to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is mired in state and federal politics.
Frustrated White House and Pentagon officials are blaming each other for the slow progress releasing approved detainees and finding a new U.S. prison to house those still held.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is facing criticism from administration officials who complain he hasn’t approved enough detainee transfers, even though 52 are eligible.
Officials say the White House is frustrated because President Barack Obama discussed the issue with Carter when he was hired for the Pentagon job, and they believed Carter was on board with the White House’s plans to move more quickly.
Others say Carter is approving transfers and pushing his staff to get more to him.
CIMMARON- A woman delivering mail was injured in an accident just before 1:30p.m. on Saturday in Gray County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer driven by Kelly L. Love, 53, Lake Odessa, MI., was travelling southbound on York Road, just south of County Road A seventeen miles northwest of Cimmaron.
The driver overcorrected and went off of the roadway to the left. The vehicle rotated counter clockwise approximately 100 degrees then rolled half a time before landing on its top.
Love was transported to St. Catherine’s Hospital.
She was not wearing a seatbelt due to being in the process of delivering mail, according to the KHP.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Mike Moustakas hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and finished with a franchise-record nine RBIs as the Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 14-6 Saturday.
Moustakas singled home two runs in the sixth inning, hit his second career slam in the seventh and capped his record-setting performance with a three-run drive in the ninth.
The previous team record for RBIs in a game was seven, by Billy Butler against Philadelphia on April 7, 2013.
Salvador Perez had two hits and three RBIs for the AL Central leaders, who won for only the second time in eight games.
Yordano Ventura (11-8) allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings for Kansas City. The right-hander is 7-1 in his last 10 starts, including a pair of wins over Baltimore.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A trial is scheduled to begin for a Eudora health care attendant who claims he killed a client as an assisted suicide.
Douglas County prosecutors have charged 49-year-old Ronald Eugene Heskett with premeditated first-degree murder in the Sept. 12, 2014, suffocation death of 65-year-old Vance Moulton.
Heskett has called it a “mercy killing” because Moulton was depressed, helpless and in pain from cerebral palsy.
Prosecutors say Heskett, who was Moulton’s home health care provider, killed him by twisting a towel around his throat.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that prosecutors plan to argue at the trial, which starts Monday, that some of Moulton’s money has been missing since his death.
Heskett’s attorney, Mike Warner, has said no clear evidence has been presented to support financial motive in the killing.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Making his first career start at quarterback on any level, Joe Hubener led the Kansas State Wildcats to a 30-3 victory against the UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday afternoon at the Alamodome.
The victory snapped Kansas State’s seven-game losing streak at indoor facilities. The Wildcats’ previous victory indoors was 1993 against Minnesota in the now-defunct Metrodome.
Hubener had a career-high 243 yards passing, completing 12 of 23 attempts, and also rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
He is taking over for Jesse Ertz, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on the third play of Kansas State’s opener last week.
UTSA’s (0-2) defense appeared to fluster Hubener early, sending multiple defenders on blitzes.
Hubener settled in after the initial drive, guiding Kansas State (2-0) to three straight scoring drives to open the second half.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 24-year-old mother is in custody after her dirty, barefoot 4- and 6-year-old children were found living in a wooden shipping crate in an underground cave in Kansas City, Missouri.
The woman was charged Friday with two counts of felony child endangerment.
Jackson County detectives were serving a search warrant for an alleged stolen car operation in the caves on the city’s east side Thursday when they found the children, alone, in the 8-by-10-foot crate furnished with vehicle bench seats.
Prosecutors say the children were poorly clothed, barefoot and covered in dirt, and the younger one was eating from a cup of dry ramen noodles.
A spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office said Saturday he didn’t know if the woman has an attorney.
