TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas transportation officials have designated 487 miles of state roads to become part of a national bicycle route.
The Kansas route starts near Girard and ends near Tribune after winding through the Flint Hills and the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge. It includes portions of U.S. 54, Kansas 19 and Kansas 96.
The roads will become part of the U.S. Bicycle Route 76, which supporters hope will eventually stretch from Virginia to Oregon.
The Kansas City Star reports the route totals 2,013 miles from Virginia through Kansas. Officials said the Kansas route was added after Missouri, and Kansas cities and counties support the designation.
Kansas Transportation Secretary Mike King said in a news release that the route could help tourism by attracting bicyclists from across the country to Kansas.
WYANDOTTE COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 9:30a.m. on Sunday in Wyandotte County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Chevy Cobalt driven by Angelique Treichler, 22, Wichita, was northbound on Interstate 35 at the 635 interchange.
The driver indicated she was going to take the ramp to Interstate 635. She lost control of the vehicle. It left the roadway and overturned.
A passenger Gabrielle Beatty, 21, Overland Park, was transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
ELLSWORTH -Barton Community College and Ellsworth Correctional Facility (ECF) received recognition for their innovative and progressive cooperative efforts to reduce recidivism of inmates via education at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at ECF.
The Governor thanked the college for their efforts in providing inmates with opportunities to become productive members of society.
“Barton, the work that you guys have done within this facility, to get people to get an associate degree or get technical training is just really important,” Brownback said. “Ninety-seven percent of these men are going to get out. They are going to pay their dues to society and once they get out, we want to see that they don’t come back. We want that recidivism rate as low as it possibly can be.”
Brownback stressed the importance of the technical training Barton offers, such as welding.
“While we’ve got them we want them improving their life and improving their thinking,” Brownback said. “Barton has been working on that a lot. I hope we can extend even more technical training into the prison population. Barton has been a strong partnership in doing that. Thank you for what you’re doing.”
Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman spoke on behalf of the college and acknowledged its commitment to continuing to pursue educational opportunities within correctional settings.
“We’re very appreciative of the partnership we have with the Department of Corrections and ECF,” Heilman said. “Our common goal is to improve people’s lives after they’ve paid their debt to society by providing training and opportunities. We have something that works really well here. We’re very pleased and appreciative of your recognition as well, governor.”
Some of the programs that Barton has established are traditional college education classes, technical training such as welding and carpentry and a GED program.
JUNCTION CITY -A Fort Riley soldier, Cyjay Echon, 22, Junction City,
Echon
waived his preliminary hearing on Friday in Geary County District Court on charges of Child Abuse and Aggravated Battery involving an eight-month old infant victim.
His arraignment in District Court is scheduled for Nov. 13.
Junction City police were contacted by Children’s Mercy Hospital in May concerning a three-month old infant who had been taken transported there from Geary Community Hospital.
The JCPD confirmed an arrest warrant was sought and granted for the arrest of Echon. He was taken into custody by Kansas City, MO. police.
Dr. Al TamimiFHSU University Relations and Marketing
Dr. Al Tamimi, vice-president of transmission planning and policy for Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, will give a presentation at a Fort Hays State University Science Café on the challenge of using wind power in Kansas as a source of electricity at 7 p.m. Oct. 22, at Gellas Diner & Lb. Brewing Co., 117 E. 11th.
“Increasing Wind Penetration: Challenges and Opportunities” will cover the use of wind as a source of electricity and the challenge of moving that electricity to where most people live.
This Science Cafe is sponsored by the FHSU Science and Mathematics Education Institute. Admission is free.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has so far resisted elaborating on two landmark decisions that established a nationwide right to defend one’s home with a gun.
That could change with a new appeal filed by gun owners that challenges a Chicago suburb’s assault weapons ban.
The appeal by Dr. Arie Friedman and the Illinois State Rifle Association argues that the city of Highland Park has violated their constitutional rights by banning all semi-automatic guns and ammunition clips of more than 10 rounds.
The justices put off consideration of the appeal last week. In recent years, the court has almost always deferred action on an appeal before agreeing to take it up.
The court could say as early as Monday whether it will hear the case.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Forecasters say this winter El Nino will leave a big wet but not necessarily snowy footprint on much of the United States, including parched California.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued its winter forecast, heavily influenced by one of the strongest El Ninos on record.
NOAA expects a cooler and wetter winter for the South. California is forecast to get more than the usual precipitation during the critical time its reservoirs usually fill, but there’s no guarantee. Only northern tier states, the Ohio Valley states and Alaska should be dry.
Forecasters see a milder, warmer winter north of the Mason-Dixon line and for all of California and Nevada. Texas and the Deep South are forecast to be cold.
COLBY – A teen from Colby was injured in an accident just before 10p.m. on Saturday in Thomas County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Marissa Mae Woodall, 16, Colby, was eastbound on College Drive one mile east of Colby.
The driver lost control of the vehicle. It left the roadway, entered the north ditch, struck a pole and came to rest on Task Road facing southbound.
Woodall and a passenger Baylee J. Lippelman, 15, Colby, were transported to Colby Medical Center.
Lippelman and another passenger Sabrina Marie Foster, 18, Levant were not injured.
The teens were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.
A new federal study estimates that dietary supplements send 23,000 Americans to hospital emergency rooms each year.
The riskiest ones are weight-loss and energy-boosting products, says the report, published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. Bodybuilding and sexual-enhancement products also led to cardiac symptoms in many seeking ER help.
Supplements do not have to have federal Food and Drug Administration approval before they are sold, nor do they get the kind of testing prescription drugs do.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the FDA studied emergency room records from 2004 through 2013 at 63 hospitals around the country to make their estimate.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Thousands of people attended a memorial service for two Kansas City firefighters who died earlier this week when a building collapsed while they were helping to fight a fire.
Fire trucks and hundreds of firefighters from across the country lined the street in front of the Sprint Center Saturday before the service for Larry Leggio and John Mesh. The veteran firefighters died Monday when a three-story building collapsed in northeast Kansas City.
Fire Chief Paul Beradi thanked the men’s families for their sacrifice and vowed they would never be forgotten.
The Kansas City Star reports (http://bit.ly/1ke9ciI ) the families also received Medals of Valor from the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Leggio was a 17-year veteran and fire apparatus operator of Truck 2. Mesh was a 13-year-veteran firefighter with Pumper 10.
Eric Hosmer scores the tying run on a Mike Moustakas single in Game 2 of the ALCS. (Chris Vleisides)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ben Zobrist’s easy fly that somehow fell in for a hit began a five-run rally against David Price, and the Kansas City Royals rolled to a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.
Yordano Ventura allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in 5 1/3 innings in Game 3 of the ALCS. (Chris Vleisides)
Wade Davis survived a shaky ninth for Kansas City after Luke Hochevar and Danny Duffy were solid in relief of Yordano Ventura. Kelvin Herrera breezed through the eighth.
Davis gave up a leadoff single and walked pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington, but bounced back to strike out leadoff man Ben Revere and MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Jose Bautista then flied out to right to give Davis his third postseason save and the Royals another postseason comeback win.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Associated Press review shows drug criminals once described by prosecutors as unrepentant repeat offenders are among those benefiting from new sentencing guidelines that are easing punishments for thousands of federal prisoners.
Many defendants cleared for early release starting this fall fit a more sympathetic profile: small-time dealers targeted by a draconian approach to drug enforcement.
But an analysis of roughly 100 court cases identified defendants who carried semi-automatic weapons, had past convictions for crimes including robbery, and had other troubling backgrounds.
Supporters say there’s no evidence that lengthier punishments protect public safety. Studies also show prisoners released early aren’t more likely to commit new offenses than those who serve their entire sentence. But the broad spectrum of defendants underscores the complex decisions involved in updating the drug sentencing structure.
