WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Former Bel Air Police Chief John Daily plans to change his plea over his role in a scheme to buy and sell discounted firearms by falsely claiming they would be used for law enforcement purposes.
A notice posted Tuesday notified the court of his intention and set May 31 for the change-of-plea hearing.
Charges against two Bel Air police officers were initially filed in December 2014, and the investigation eventually ensnared the department’s police chief along with a third police officer. The indictment against one officer was dismissed in January.
Most charges involve wire fraud and mail fraud in connection with the alleged scheme.
Prosecutors allege the officers bought and sold numerous firearms by falsely certifying they were for law enforcement use and not resale — thereby avoiding paying taxes.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas architecture graduate students are completing final touches on a newly constructed sustainable house in east Lawrence.
Officials at the university’s architecture school tell the Lawrence Journal-World that the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a detached garage is designed to meet two sustainable building standards: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum and the Passive House Institute standards.
The home is the latest design-build project of the Studio 804 class, which concentrates on environmentally-friendly development.
The house includes solar panels on the roof that will supply nearly all of its electricity needs and barn door-style sliding panels on the house’s exterior can be closed to clock sunlight in the hottest months.
There is also a concrete storm shelter in the back of the lot near the garage.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman who took her children to perform for occupiers during the armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge says authorities have removed seven of the children from her home and arrested her for assaulting an officer.
Jail officials told The Kansas City Star Odalis Sharp of Auburn was booked into the Shawnee County jail Friday for battery of an officer and interfering with a law enforcement officer. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday morning.
Sharp and her children, who have a family gospel band, traveled to Oregon to support the 41-day occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year. She says the arrest and removal of the children happened after a dispute involving her landlord.
Neither the state Department of Children and Families nor the local prosecutor could be reached for comment.
PLAINVILLE, Kan. – The TMP-Marian softball team used a couple of solid pitching performances to sweep Plainville 18-1 and 12-4 Tuesday.
Alison Helget struck out without issuing a walk. She gave up one unearned run on three hits in the opener. The Monarchs scored seven in the first inning to take control then added seven more in the fourth for the run-rule win. Bailey Lacy, Anna Gottschalk and Taryn Rupp all had two hits. Gottschalk drove in three.
TMP trailed 3-2 after one in the second game but scored five in the third to take the lead for good. Bailey Lacy struck out 11 with two walks and allowed three earned runs on six hits. Ciara Seib had three hits and Brianna Romme drives in three. The Monarchs have won nine of their last 10 and improve to 13-5.
CHEYENNE BOTTOMS – Bird watchers are marking a rare happening for Kansas.
A rare migrating, white ibis, was photographed over the weekend, at Cheyenne Bottoms according to Curtis Wolf, the Kansas Wetlands Education Center Manager.
Wolf was also able to catch a glimpse of the bird.
According to Robert Penner’s book, The Birds of Cheyenne Bottoms, there have only been six records of white ibis at the wetlands over the last 40 years. Overall, there are only 14-15 records of seeing a white ibis in Kansas.
Wolf noted most of the records of viewing a white ibis are of juvenile birds, but the bird at Cheyenne Bottoms was an adult.
Wolf said the bird was also spotted Sunday morning.
The breeding range for the American white ibis runs along the Atlantic Coast and coast of Mexico and Central America.
Wolf mentioned it is uncertain on how long the white ibis will stay at Cheyenne Bottoms, but research shows more common breeds of the ibis family stay anywhere from a few days up to a couple of weeks.
HAYS, Kan. – The Hays High girls’ soccer team dropped a 4-2 decision to to McPherson Tuesday at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.
Jackie Paderes and Lieacha Cook scored for the Indians who fall to 7-5. They are back in action Thursday against Dodge City at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A man who left a Joplin hospital against medical advice after he was wounded by police is jailed in Kansas.
Police in Wichita arrested 50-year-old Jeffrey L. Hill last month on charges of interference with a law enforcement officer, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. The Joplin Globe reports that he is jailed without bond in Sedgwick County.
He could be brought back to face charges in Missouri once the Kansas charges are resolved.
Joplin police said officers shot Hill, who is white, on Nov. 30 when he attempted to run over an officer with a vehicle during a domestic disturbance call. No attorney is listed for him in Missouri court records. It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney in the Kansas case.
Dr. Jamie Schwandt and his guest discuss how you can dream big, think positive and take action. In this episode, Christie Appelhanz discusses her work with the Children’s Alliance of Kansas.
It took a total of nine innings on Tuesday afternoon for Hays softball to sweep Liberal. Both teams had played road games on Monday, with Liberal making the their second trip in two days.
Game 1: Hays 17, Liberal 1 (Four innings)
Liberal opened the game with a single run in the first inning. It would be their last of the game. Hays responded back with one of their own in the first inning and then three in the second to grab the lead for good. Hays ended the game after scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the fourth. The decisive runs came on a two run home run by Albany Schaffer to invoke the run-rule.
In the decisive fourth inning Hays sent 15 batters to the plate with all nine scoring at least one run. Madison Prough and Kacie Brous each scored three runs, Tessa Stickel, Albany Schaffer, Kylie Brown, and Shannon Schumacher each scored two. Brous was also 3-3 at the plate while Schaffer also recorded three hits and drove in four runs.
Kaitlyn Brown took the four inning victory allowing just two hits, walking five and walking two. Brown evens her record out at 3-3.
Coach Erin Wagner
Highlights
Game 2: Hays 12, Liberal 2 (Five innings)
Game two started the same way the first game did with each team scoring a single run in the first inning. Hays took the lead in the bottom of the third scoring two. The Indians did the rest of the damage in the fourth, scoring five runs then added four runs in the fifth. All of the nine runs in the final two innings came with two outs.
Hays also won the game in a most unusual fashion, scoring three runs on a passed ball that never left the infield. A pitch got away from the Liberal catcher allowing Albany Schaffer to score. In an effort to throw out Schaffer, the catcher’s throw went under the glove of the pitcher into foul territory where the first baseman also missed played it allowing Nicole Dinkel and Kylie Brown to score for the final margin.
Kylie Brown, Mackenzie Fagan, and Kacie Brous led the way with two hits a piece. Schaffer, Dinkel and Brown each scored three runs. Brown also drove in four runs.
Jaysa Wichers struck out eight and walked just one four her fourth victory of the season.
Hays improves to 8-8 on the season and 4-2 in Western Athletic Conference play. Hays will finish the season at Garden City May 10th.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An international rating agency has revised its credit outlook for Kansas to negative from stable because of its ongoing budget problems.
Tuesday’s announcement from Moody’s Investors Service came a day after lawmakers approved a plan leaving most of the work of balancing the budget through June 2017 to Gov. Sam Brownback.
Even as Moody’s changed its outlook, it reaffirmed its Aa2 rating for Kansas for issuing bonds.
Its report cited the state’s problems in balancing its budget since lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging to help stimulate the economy.
Standard and Poor’s Rating Services last week put Kansas on a “credit watch.”
Brownback told reporters Tuesday that Kansas faces financial strains because of slumps in agriculture and energy production, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
Two weeks after a partial roof collapse closed Big Creek Crossing, 2918 Vine, business is starting to return to normal, with all but three stores open throughout the facility. And while work is being completed on the damaged section of the roof, the shopping center’s management is getting ready for a big weekend.
Four events are planned for the shopping center this weekend — a home-based business fair, a Mommy and Me event, a DECA MDA car show, and with a Cross Point Church, 1300 Harvest, flea market.
During Saturday’s Mommy and Me event, children 12 and younger will receive a free flower and pot as a way for children to say thank you to mothers on Mothers’ Day at the Kaw Valley Greenhouse from 10 a.m. to noon.
The greenhouse is located on the south side of the Big Creek Crossing parking lot.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a home-based business fair will also be held with over 30 vendors participating, giving shoppers an opportunity to check out home-based businesses from Hays and the surrounding area.
Courtesy Big Creek Crossing
Courtesy Big Creek Crossing
Courtesy Big Creek Crossing
Repair work continues
As the shopping center prepares for the weekend events, work continues on the roofing section that collapsed and within affected stores.
“We have contractors down there right now. We’re working on replacing the roof that was damaged,” said Josh Vickery, DP Management development investment specialist. “The contractors have been fantastic, the city has been fantastic and (property manager Katie Dorzweiler) has been fantastic to work with.”
Christopher Banks is expected to open this week, Hallmark is expected to open by the end of the month, and Bling is currently undergoing a full remodel and will have a grand reopening soon, according to Dorzweiler.
Roof work began Tuesday with trusses being put in place to repair the damaged roof section.
Throughout the process, Dorzweiler said she has been humbled by the community response.
“The outpouring of community support was heartwarming,” she said. “We really had good support through this.”
Cleanup and repair work has been almost exclusively done with local contractors, and Dorzweiler said she could not be more grateful. Clean Rite, Rohr’s Carpet Mechanics, Servicemaster, Ralph’s Electric, Glassman, Commercial Builders, High Plains Roofing, American Sprinklers, Hess Services and Big D’s Rent All all assisted with the repair and cleanup, she said.
Dorzweiler was also thankful to the Hays Police and Fire Departments for their quick response to the incident and for the HPD providing 24-hour security for the shopping center.
While BCC is certainly happy to have the majority of the facility open and serving customers, behind-the-scenes work is still being done to determine the cause of the initial roof collapse.
“The roof was under warranty and so the insurance and the warranty (company) are working out the specifics on who’s at fault,” Vickery said. “All we knew was that the roof was in good shape.”
He called the collapse a “freak accident,” but said he will know more once the insurance company completes its investigation.
“When we do a new roof, we do go up there and look at it,” Vickery said and, unless there is a leak, they assume everything is fine. In this case, they had no indication there was a problem on the roof.
Ultimately, he said, the insurance company will find the fault of the collapse as investigators work to uncover what went wrong and who may have done work on the roof that led to the incident.
Claire’s closing
Despite the reopening of most of the retailers in the shopping center, Claire’s, a fashion boutique catering to young women and girls, has decided to permanently close its Hays location within the shopping center. The news came Monday to store employees as they have waited for the word on a reopening.
Store employees are currently packing merchandise to be shipped to other Claire’s locations, according to Shannon Christen, store manager.
While the news was disheartening, it was not completely unexpected to Claire’s staff.
“We were kind of prepping ourselves for it,” Christen said, but “we didn’t think it would happen.”
The store has been closed since the roof collapse.
“I can’t say it was a day’s notice because we’ve already been closed for two weeks,” Christen said. “After the first week went by, we’re like OK it’s a week, but then it was two weeks, now there’s something going on.”
The closure was not just a surprise to local employees, but to many of the higher ups through the company as well.
“My (district manager) didn’t know, my regional (manager) didn’t know, my territorial vice president didn’t know. They were all very shocked,” Christen said.
The closure, however, was not as big a surprise to DP Management as they had already been struggling to get a lease signed with Claire’s.
“We were in the process of negotiating a lease with Claire’s when the incident happened with the flood and the roof,” Vickery said.
The store was self-insured and made the decision to permanently close the location after a significant expense would have been needed to reopen, according to Vickery.
“It was a way out really,” he said, noting it was a marginally profitable store.
Further problems through the chain likely contributed to the decision.
“They aren’t doing very well as a company,” Vickery said. “They found it to be a way to jump out.”
Before the roof incident, DP Management was negotiating with Claire’s to retain its location and were currently running a month-to-month lease for space.
Because of the lack of insurance at Claire’s, Vickery estimated work in the location would have cost $20,000 to $30,000 and with marginal profits they would not have been able to continue making a profit in the location.
Despite the loss, BCC management is hopeful to keep Claire’s employees within the shopping center.
“We truly value every Claire’s employee,” Dorzweieler said. “They will be a true asset to whoever snatches them up.”
Claire’s is owned by Apollo Management, with headquarters in Illinois and Florida. Messages left with Claire’s headquarters had not been answered as of Tuesday afternoon.
Facility upgrades continue
Even with the repairs being completed at the shopping center, the second stage of facility improvements is still on schedule and new stores are likely still on the way.
“We’re full bore ahead. This little setback…this unfortunate setback, in regards to the roof, has not delayed us on going forward on phase two,” Vickery said. “We’re hoping to get construction underway by July 1.”
The final approval for exterior improvements is being concluded this week.
Along with the facility upgrades, DP Management is expecting to announce two new major tenants soon.
“We’re in the middle of negotiating some pretty major leases right now,” Vickery said.
The leasing group is “making some pretty major headway not only on one of the out lots, where Montana Mike’s was, but a major retailer that would be taking about 23,000 square feet,” he said.
NEWTON – Fire officials are investigating the cause of a fire at a residence in Newton.
Just before noon on Monday, Newton Fire/EMS crews responded to reports of residential fire in the 300 block of South Main Street, according to a social media report.
Fire crews found a small garage fully involved with heavy fire that had spread to the exterior siding and roof of a nearby house.
Fire crews used heavy-caliber handlines and compressed-air foam to control the garage fire, while stretching a hoseline into the house to check for victims and to extinguish interior fire spread.
Fire damage was held to the garage, which was a total loss, and the outside of the house.
Fire crews made a quick knockdown of the fire, and removed pieces of siding and roofing material to locate and extinguish hidden fire in the house.
Fireground operations were complicated by the presence of energized electrical power lines that had fallen onto a metal fence surrounding this, and adjacent properties, creating life safety hazards for firefighters and citizens.
Westar was requested to the scene to disconnect electricity at the pole.
A longtime retailer in the Big Creek Shopping Center, Claire’s has permanently closed after a new lease agreement could not be made between the store and DP Management.
“I got the call about 4 o’clock (Monday) afternoon,” said Shannon Christen, store manager.
Store employees are now packing up merchandise to be shipped to other locations.
While the store has been closed for two weeks, Christen said she did not think the store would be closed, but was afraid something was amiss after a week of being closed.
“We were kind of prepping ourselves for it,” she said.
Christen said the Hays location is the only Claire’s between Salina and Colorado Springs.
Check Hays Post for more about ongoing roof repairs at Big Creek Crossing and future development at the shopping center.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Former Bel Air Police Chief John Daily plans to change his plea over his role in a scheme to buy and sell discounted firearms by falsely claiming they would be used for law enforcement purposes.
By JAMES BELL