Hays, Kan. – Fort Hays State picked up their ninth win of the season against Oklahoma Baptist by a score of 4-0 on Thursday (Oct. 21). The Tigers improved their record to 9-3-1 and the Bison dropped to 4-12 on the season.
Joe Albright scored two goals in a matter of 1:20 and Addison Pauleradded another for the Tigers all in the first half. MIAA leading scorer Maurico Castorino added to his total with an assist and the lone goal in the second half. He now has nine goals and five assists for the season.
Albright started the scoring when he got a deflection off a Bison defender from a shot taken by Anthony Hernandez. The ball found Albright 15 yards out and he was able to rifle it pass the keeper in the bottom left corner of the net for his second goal of the season 11:46 into the game.
Shortly after, Albright was able to spring free from the defense on a beautiful cross from defender Daniel Kelly and he found the back of the net again to push the Tiger lead to 2-0 at the 13:06 mark.
Pauler was the beneficiary of a ball that did not get cleared by an OBU defender. The ball bounced to Pauler 20 yards out where he settled it and fired a laser to the lower right corner of the net for his first goal of the season at 35:17.
In the second half, Castorino received a pass from Kyle Markovits at the top of the box and froze the keeper with a rifle shot into the net pushing the Tiger lead to 4-0 at 46:12.
Goalkeeper Michael Yantz recorded his ninth win of the season and his fourth shutout, stopping all three of the shots on goal from OBU.
The Tigers head to Canyon, Texas, next for a big matchup against 9-4 West Texas A&M on Saturday (Oct. 23) at 7:00 pm.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 35-year-old man has been arrested in the death of an 8-year-old boy who was killed in a crash while riding on the back of a moped in Topeka.
The suspect was arrested Thursday on suspicion of several charges, including second-degree murder and reckless driving. Prosecutors say Trenton Feliciano was riding on a moped driven by the suspect on Oct. 4, 2014. Police say witnesses reported seeing the vehicle speeding before it collided with a car driven by a 19-year-old woman who had a 1-year-old baby with her.
The woman and the baby were taken to the hospital for treatment. The suspect was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The suspect is being held on $300,000 bond and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Andy Reid was never under any pretense that Jamaal Charles was irreplaceable.
Shortly after the four-time Pro Bowl running back went down with a season-ending ACL injury, the Chiefs coach was among the first to acknowledge the difficulty in replacing him.
So far, that challenge has proven to be bigger than even Reid estimated.
In their first game without No. 25 in the backfield, the Chiefs were bottled up a week ago by the Minnesota Vikings. Charcandrick West ran for 33 yards, Knile Davis managed just 13 more on five carries, and the Chiefs finished with 57 yards rushing in a 16-10 defeat.
In the five games before Charles was hurt? The Chiefs averaged 110 yards on the ground.
“There were some positive things that are going to get overlooked because we didn’t win the game,” Reid said. “Charcandrick did some nice things – nice things, really.”
Then again, he also fumbled late in the game, squandering a chance at a go-ahead touchdown.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police are investigating after a man was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound in the basement of a duplex.
According to Sgt. Brian Goward, officers responded to a report of a shooting around 8:45 p.m. Thursday and found the victim. A neighbor reported hearing a gunshot to authorities.
Goward said officers are looking for a male suspect.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer says about 65,000 businesses in the state will pay less for their workers’ compensation coverage next year.
Selzer announced Thursday that he approved lower rates proposed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The council is a national group that analyzes workers’ compensation data and files proposed rates in a majority of states.
Selzer said rates will decrease by 11.6 percent for Kansas businesses obtaining their insurance in the marketplace and 10.4 percent for companies that participate in a state plan for high-risk businesses.
Insurance Department spokesman Bob Hanson said the decline in rates can be attributed to a drop in high-cost claims from businesses and greater awareness of their safety issues. Workers’ compensation insurance covers businesses against costs associated with employee injuries.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The top election official in Kansas was dismissed as a defendant from the lawsuit filed by a Wichita mathematician seeking voting machine tapes after finding statistical anomalies in election counts.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in a statement Thursday he was pleased but not surprised. The move leaves Sedgwick County Elections Commissioner Tabitha Lehman, whose office actually has the tapes, as the only defendant in the case.
Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson wants the tapes to do a statistical model by checking the error rate on electronic voting machines used at a Sedgwick County voting station during the November 2014 general election.
Kobach says the law is clear regarding auditing procedures and contends he should have never been a party to the lawsuit in the first place.
LAWRENCE–A Kansas angler got quite the surprise when he reeled to the surface not a just an ordinary fish, but a 30-inch-long eel from the Kansas River, below the Bowersock Dam near Lawrence. After closer inspection, it was determined the catch was an American eel, a species that hasn’t been seen in Kansas for nearly 10 years.
“This species spawns in the Sargaso Sea of the Atlantic Ocean,” said Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Fisheries section chief, Doug Nygren. “So, this eel made a long journey from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi, took a turn at St. Louis to enter the Missouri River, and another turn to go up the Kansas River to the Bowersock Dam.”
The American eel once inhabited waters as far as the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, from Greenland to Brazil, and inland from Minnesota to central New Mexico. In the early 1800s and 1900s, there were several accounts of the American eel in Kansas, but dams blocking upstream migrations have made this species’ appearance a rarity today.
Less active during the day, eels will often remain under logs or other cover until night approaches. They feed primarily on invertebrates and soft-bodied fish.
Although the age of the eel caught from the Kansas River is unknown, records indicate the American eel can live to about 20 years. The current state record American eel was caught in 1987, also from the Kansas River, and weighed 4.4 pounds.
By Diane Gasper-O’Brien FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Rather than running away from the challenge of raising a child with a disability, a Fort Hays State University student and his wife are running toward the goal of raising awareness for Down syndrome.
Chad Simon, a senior communication major from Atchison, and his wife, Leyda, are the parents of a 3-year-old daughter, Ashlynn, one of about 6,000 U.S. babies born with the genetic disorder in 2012. Approximately 400,000 Americans have Down syndrome, which causes developmental delays.
The Simons were living in North Carolina, where Chad was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, when Ashlynn was born in October 2012.
After getting to know other parents of Down syndrome children, the Simons ran across a race fundraiser for the charity Research Down Syndrome. Now, the couple has run several marathons together and is in the process of helping organize a support group for families affected by Down syndrome.
A meet-and-greet for the Northwest Kansas Down Syndrome Society is set for 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, at Seven Hills Park, located at the corner of 33rd and Hillcrest Streets in Hays. There is no charge to join the group, which plans to offer educational information, medical information, early intervention, estate planning, and family fun.
“We want this to be a support group for people where they can ask questions, talk to others who are going through the same thing,” Chad said.
The Simons have been particularly busy recently since October is Down syndrome awareness month. After participating in a “Buddy Walk,” an event geared toward individuals with Down syndrome and their families, the first weekend of the month in Clyde, the Simons ran in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon the next weekend.
Since running their first marathon two years ago, the Simons have raised more than $9,000 for LuMind Research Down Syndrome.
The experience has changed the lives of the Simon family, which includes Ashlynn’s three older brothers: Ashton, 11; Ethan, 7; and Ian, 5.
“The Buddy Walk was like a big family reunion,” Chad said. “It’s a celebration of life of Down syndrome family members.”
Eagle’s Gary Shorman talks with Chad Simon on a special edition of The Forum, which will air the week of Nov. 2 on Eagle Channels 14 and 614.
The Simons were living in Japan — where Chad was stationed at the time — when they learned Leyda was pregnant with their fourth child in the summer of 2012.
The pregnancy was a surprise — but a pleasant one — for the Simons, especially when they learned it was a girl. However, an ultrasound showed that there was a strong possibility their daughter had an extra copy of chromosome 21, the cause of the genetic disorder. Tests also detected that Ashlynn had a heart defect and would require surgery not long after her birth.
Although it was an emotional jolt, Chad said they accepted the news and began gathering information about Down syndrome.
“God was giving me a baby girl, and I accepted what he gave us,” Leyda said. “I started to get to know other moms with Down syndrome children.”
Ashlynn was born on Oct. 15, 2012, and she underwent open heart surgery when she was just 5 months old. That’s when the enormity of the situation hit Leyda.
“We accepted the Down syndrome,” she said. “But to have to see Ashlynn go through the heart surgery, too, that was so hard.”
Feeling overwhelmed one day right after Ashlynn’s surgery, Leyda went for a walk. The walk turned into a run, and Leyda said she suddenly felt free of any burdens. It was then that she realized she could run for a cause.
“I came home and told Chad, ‘I want to keep running,’ “she said. “I felt so good that when I wanted an out, I just went and ran.”
So the Simons decided to enter a 5K race, then started training for the Marine Corps Marathon scheduled right around the time of Ashlyn’s first birthday.
“We found out all the entries were full, but that we could still enter through the charities division,” Chad said. “So we looked for something we had a personal connection with.”
In searching for charities online, the Simons found RDS — Research Down Syndrome, which since has combined efforts with the LuMind Foundation to form Lumind RDS Foundation, the leading source of private funding for Down syndrome cognition research.
“I thought, ‘There you go,’ ” Chad said, and Team Ashlynn was born.
In addition to raising money through successive marathons, the Simons also are instrumental in starting the area support group.
Currently, more than a dozen families from the area are involved.
Chad still has several semesters of school remaining, and he is unsure where his family will end up after he graduates. One thing he is sure of, he would like to work for a non-profit organization.
In the meantime, the Simons are doing what they can in trying to get the area support group off on the right foot.
“My wife and I want to help others,” Chad said.
“We’ve been blessed with our daughter,” Leyda added. “We don’t want people to feel alone, to know that there are others out there going through the same thing.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. safety regulators say eight people have died and 98 people have been injured by exploding air bag inflators made by Takata Corp.
Those injured have suffered cuts to the neck, loss of eyesight and hearing and broken teeth, according to representatives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who gave the updated totals Thursday at a public meeting on the problem.
The agency says it knows of 89 driver’s side and 32 passenger inflator ruptures. Nearly one in 10 ruptures of driver side air bags causes a death.
About 23.4 million Takata driver and passenger air bag inflators have been recalled on 19.2 million U.S. vehicles sold by 12 auto and truck makers.
The agency is moving toward taking over management of the massive recalls to speed up repairs.
SHAWNEE- Two people were injured in an accident just after 4p.m. on Thursday in Shawnee County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Buick LeSabre driven by Larry Carl Mattias, 76, Horton, was northbound on U.S. 75 in the right lane.
The driver made an improper lane change and struck a 1999 Buick Century driven by Skyler Gene Fitzgerald, 35, Topeka, that was northbound in the left lane.
Matthias and a passenger Etta Mae Matthias, 76, Horton were transported to Stormont Vail.
Fitzgerald was not injured.
All were properly restrained at the time of the of the accident, according to the KHP.
An alleged burglary sent one man to the hospital and another to jail early Saturday morning, according to the Hays Police Department.
Officers responded to the 2500 block of Henry Drive just after 1 a.m. Saturday for the report of a man who had been beaten up in the process of a burglary.
According to Lt. Brandon Wright, 43-year-old Arden Dean Jennings, Hays, is accused of entered his ex-girlfriend’s house without permission and struck another man in the face with a jewelry stand. Wright said Jennings allegedly took the ex’s cell phone and then left.
The man who was struck in the face suffered face facial fractures, according to Wright, and took himself to the hospital.
Jennings was arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery, aggravated burglary and theft.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One of two men charged with the shooting deaths of a Wichita couple pleaded not guilty to capital murder and other crimes.
Steve Wade Edwards on Thursday also waived his preliminary hearing and asked for a jury trial.
Edwards is charged with capital murder, or two alternative counts of first-degree premeditated murder, in the October 2014 deaths of Godofredo and Martha Moreno. He also faces four other charges.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett told The Wichita Eagle (https://bit.ly/1kwxZyw ) he won’t seek the death penalty.
Edwards is accused of shooting the Morenos while trying to collect a debt from the couple’s son.
The other suspect, Carlos Delacadena-Edwards, is scheduled for a Nov. 30 jury trial on two counts of first-degree felony murder and one count of aggravated robbery.
