EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — An eastern Kansas sheriff’s deputy has been found guilty of vehicular manslaughter for a 2012 crash that killed a 59-year-old Madison man.
KVOE Radio reports Lyon County deputy Tyler Pettigrew initially was charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery and using a wireless device to write, send or receive a written communication while driving.
Pettigrew was in his personal vehicle when he rear-ended a pickup truck driven by Michael Argabright in Lyon County in October 2012, then crossed the center line and struck a vehicle driven by Mark Harrison of Madison. Harrison was killed in the crash.
The 27-year-old has been suspended since his arrest in November.
A jury returned the verdict Wednesday. Pettigrew is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 1.
By RANDY GONZALEZ FHSU University Relations and Marketing
To further his career, Eric Bremner had to look no further than Fort Hays State University.
Bremner, a supervising investigator for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office in San Bernardino, Calif., was looking for a college where he could get his master’s degree online, with the hope of earning a promotion upon completion.
“As time progressed I realized by the time I was promoted to sergeant in 2002 with no degree, it was the end of the line,” Bremner said. “I wouldn’t go any further unless I finalized my education.”
Bremner finished his bachelor’s degree in less than a year in 2014. He then focused on finding a school to get his master’s. A member of an FBI task force that Bremner supervised had attended FHSU and mentioned the university to Bremner.
“He said it was a good program and affordable,” Bremner said.
Bremner checked it out, and he liked what he saw. He enrolled for the spring 2015 semester, seeking a Master’s of Professional Studies in Criminal Justice, and he graduated last month.
“I completed my bachelor’s degree and went straight into the Fort Hays State program, so I would be in position to promote up to an administrative position by the end of my career,” Bremner said.
Bremner said the online course work at FHSU was extensive, the same as if he was in a classroom — which he appreciated.
“This was the first experience I had with a true online program,” Bremner said. “The setup there was very good.
“I liked the interaction; I liked the assignments,” he added. “The instructors didn’t hold back. You’ve got to work — they don’t hold back.”
John Raacke, chair of FHSU’s Department of Criminal Justice, said online students receive the same quality education as those on campus.
“We have the same level of expectations, the same amount of course work — you name it, it’s in there,” he said. “It’s just done through virtual means.”
Raacke said Bremner was an exceptional and dedicated student.
“Eric was very inquisitive, had good questions,” Raacke said. “He was what you would expect from somebody who had a lot going on. Eric was really easy as a student.”
Bremner, who lives outside San Bernardino in Norco, Calif., completed his master’s degree in three semesters — while working fulltime and helping raise three young children.
Dennis King, assistant vice president for student affairs at FHSU, said Bremner’s decision to further his education will not only help him, but also his children.
“One of the things that’s truly rewarding about the Virtual College is the family members,” King said. “Think about those kids seeing their dad go through that program, studying online.
“They witness somebody working hard to better themselves and their family,” he added. “It’s going to be rewarding, because we know (his children) are going to expect to go to college, do everything they can to get there.”
With costs a factor, Bremner also appreciated FHSU’s low tuition — especially compared to other schools he was considering. Bremner’s tuition at another institution to finish his bachelor’s degree cost $15,000, while tuition for his master’s degree at FHSU was $8,000.
“You’re not going to be one of those people that come out of college $40,000 to $50,000 in debt, because the tuition is so reasonable and the education you get is as good or better,” he said. “That’s why I tell people in my line of work to look at Fort Hays State. You just can’t beat it.”
King said maintaining high standards of excellence — while at the same time providing an affordable, quality education — is important.
“We know we’re offering challenging academic programs and making sure the students meet the outcomes of the programs,” King said. “When we talk about replicating the same program online as on campus, the cost of tuition has to do with it as well. Our access to quality and getting an affordable education is our focus both on campus and off.”
With FHSU degree in hand, Bremner, 48, now looks at a brighter future.
“My goal, within the next year or two, is to move up into a management position,” he said. “I’m in a good position now to compete for that spot and hopefully get it. Without this master’s degree I would not be as competitive with the other people in our office.”
Bremner has been in law enforcement for 25 years. Times have changed, he said. Bremner realized that these days, to further your career, you need that piece of paper hanging on the wall. He’s proud to be a Fort Hays State graduate.
“The quality of education I received and the tuition I paid made this by far the best deal out there,” Bremner said. “There’s no comparison.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Royals designated infielder Omar Infante for assignment before Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Indians, likely ending his rather unproductive tenure in Kansas City.
Infante has struggled with injuries since signing a $30.25 million, four-year deal prior to the 2014 season. Unless he is traded or claimed on waivers, both unlikely, the Royals would owe him the remainder of $7.75 million due this season, $8 million on his contract next season and a $2 million buyout for the 2018 season.
The 34-year-old Infante has gradually lost playing time to Whit Merrifield and others, and was hitting just .239 with 11 RBIs in 39 games. He hit .220 in 124 games last season, when an injury sidelined him during the Royals’ run to the World Series title.
Kansas City recalled left-hander Brian Flynn to take his roster spot.
Thousands of people in Kansas have incomplete voter registrations, which means they haven’t been able to vote. They were caught up in the state’s requirement that some people provide citizenship documents when registering.
Now, a federal appeals court says many of those people should be allowed to vote in federal elections.
Republican Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has pushed for the more stringent voter registration rules to ensure security in elections, but voter advocacy groups say the cost has been too high.
A few years ago, people didn’t need as much to register to vote. Now, people registering for the first time in Kansas need a document like a birth certificate or passport to prove their citizenship.
Bernadette Forge, with the League of Women Voters in Topeka, unpacked scanners and iPads at a recent voter registration event. “The iPad, the advantage is you don’t need electricity.
These copiers are inexpensive and rather slow,” Forge said. That’s why Forge is registering people at a naturalization ceremony where nearly 200 people will become U.S. citizens. They’ll have freshly minted documents in hand ready to copy.
“We’re trying to get away from feeling upset about the proof of citizenship, and try to just look at ‘Here’s what has to get done now,’” she said.
But the process hasn’t been so simple for people like Tad Stricker. He moved to Kansas and registered to vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles before the 2014 election. “I walked in to cast my ballot,” Stricker said, “and I can’t tell you what a shocker it was to find out my vote wasn’t going to be counted.” Stricker thought he had done everything required to vote, but his registration was incomplete because it didn’t include a document proving his citizenship.
He is now a party in a lawsuit over the rules. “I had this barrier put up that I just feel was very unjust,” Stricker said.
Photo by Stephen Koranda/Kansas Public Radio Marge Ahrens, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas, says voter registration requirements in Kansas have gone too far.
Marge Ahrens, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas, said actual voter fraud cases are rare.
She said, in the name of security, Kobach’s policies are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. “He has taken away the rights of, for sure, 20,000 people to vote,” Ahrens said. “It’s a terrible trade. It’s a loss of the most important privilege in a democracy to thousands of Kansas citizens.”
For his part, Kobach said voting crimes where non-citizens vote are real and documented. “The League of Women Voters is deceptive with their words when they say that people are being disenfranchised or blocked,” he said.
Kobach said requiring people to provide a citizenship document is a necessary step because illegal votes cancel the votes of Kansas citizens, possibly turning the results of a close election.
“And that’s real disenfranchisement, not the fake disenfranchisement that the League of Women Voters complains about when they say someone is temporarily on a suspense list for a week while they get their birth certificate,” he said.
Photo by Stephen Koranda/Kansas Public Radio Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach pushed for a 2011 state law that requires voter applicants to submit proof of citizenship. The law faces a court challenge.
In fact, Kobach said 95 percent of people who register to vote complete the process. He believes the law will survive legal fights and said Kansas is leading on the issue.
With a primary and general election coming up, what could be the impact of thousands of voter registrations that are incomplete? “If this law kept even a handful of people from voting in a hotly contested House race, that could be the difference in that race,” said Patrick Miller, a political science professor at the University of Kansas.
While it’s possible the voting rules could affect an election, Miller calls it highly unlikely because of the types of people on the list. He said many of them are younger people or move frequently.
“Disproportionately, we’re talking about a group of people who tend to register in the moment without a huge intention to actually following through with the documentation, let alone vote,” he said.
Right now, the voter registration rules in Kansas are up in the air. A court said people who registered at the DMV and are suspended should be allowed to vote, at least in federal elections, but there’s still some uncertainty. A federal appeals court will consider the issue in August.
Stephen Koranda is a reporter for KCUR in conjunction with the KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ governing board of the state’s universities has signed off on requests to raise tuition higher than first proposed by many of the campuses.
The Kansas Board of Regents’ Wednesday in Topeka came weeks after Republican Gov. Sam Brownback cut higher education spending by 4 percent. That was one percent more than the state’s universities had expected.
Many of the campuses responded by pushing their tuition requests upward.
The University of Kansas’ tuition will rise by 5 percent. That’s one percent higher than the school sought last month.
The state’s other universities’ tuition boosts range from 4.9 percent at Emporia State to 6 percent at Fort Hays State. Only the University of Kansas’ medical center and Wichita State didn’t increase their rate requests. They will remain at 5 percent.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Health care analysts say Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to cut money for Medicaid health coverage for the needy, disabled and elderly will add to the problems some hospitals are facing.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the 4 percent budget-balancing Medicaid reimbursement cut takes effect July 1.
Health care providers already had been raising concerns that the state’s decision to not expand Medicaid was harming them. Currently, Kansans who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but don’t make enough money to qualify for federal subsidies, fall into a coverage gap. When patients are uninsured and can’t pay, the hospitals get stuck with the cost.
Cindy Samuelson, of the Kansas Hospital Association, says the budget is being balanced “on the shoulders of providers and patients around the state.”
Velda E. Transue, 86, of Quinter, Kansas, passed away June 13, 2016 in Quinter. She was born Dec. 5, 1929 to Ralph A. and Leta May (Mace) Transue.
Preceded in death by: parents; brother, Lewis Transue and his wife Eva; sisters, Venda Transue, and Vesta McCready and her husband Gene.
Funeral services: 2 p.m. Saturday, June 18, at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Studley, with visitation one hour prior to the service. Interment in Baker Township Cemetery.
Memorial contributions are suggested to Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, or Gove County Medical Center – LTC in care of Schmitt Funeral Home, Quinter, KS.
The Hays Police Department is becoming “more proactive” when it comes to distracted drivers, according to Chief Don Scheibler.
Scheibler quoted statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) of what he called the “real consequences” of distracted driving.
“In 2014, over 3,100 people were killed in distracted driving accidents and over 440,000 were injured,” Scheibler reported, “and teenage drivers had more fatality accidents caused by distracted driving than any other age group.”
During the last three years, 417 people have been cited for inattentive driving in the city of Hays, according to Scheibler. “They were distracted and failed to give their full attention to their driving and as a result, an accident occurred.”
Distracted driving comes in many different forms, not just relatively new electronics such as smart phones, cell phones, portable computers or video players. The more conventional distractions to driving include talking with passengers, eating, and even applying makeup.
The biggest problem is caused by smart phones.
“Texting, which is apparently the preferred method of communication for our teenagers, is the most dangerous of all distractions while driving,” Scheibler noted. “Texting causes visual, manual and cognitive distraction of the driver. It requires you to take your eyes off the road, your hands off the (steering) wheel, and your mind off your driving.”
The city of Hays and the state have laws prohibiting all drivers from texting while operating a vehicle. Drivers younger than 17 are completely prohibited from use of wireless communication devices except to report illegal activity or to summons medical or emergency help.
The fine for texting while driving in Hays is $50 plus $75 court costs. Scheibler said Hays police have issued 61 tickets in the past three years for texting while driving.
In an effort to make Hays streets safer, HPD has joined the One Text Or Call Could Wreck It All campaign by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The message focuses on how distracted drivers are a danger to themselves and to everyone else on the road.
“Our plan for spreading the message is two-fold,” Scheibler said. “We plan to continue the education of our drivers and the dangers of distracted driving and we’ll use social media, presentations to the public and other events.
“The second half of our plan won’t be quite so popular.
“It’s going to include the Hays Police Department being more proactive in enforcement of our traffic laws related to distracted driving. We will be writing tickets to those who choose to violate the law. We know that working with the community, we can help make the roads safer for everyone.”
Scheibler also outlined steps to avoid distracted driving.
“Remember this: focus on driving, refrain from eating, drinking, reading, grooming, smoking or other activities that take your mind off the road. Turn off your phone or switch it to silent mode before you get in your car and then stow it away so it’s out of your reach.
“Don’t ever text and drive, surf the internet or read your email while driving. It’s dangerous and it’s against the law.”
FORD COUNTY – A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just before 9:30p.m. on Wednesday in Ford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Mack Truck with a dump trailer driven by Cesar Alejan Lopez-Delgadillo, 34, Woodward, OK., and a 2004 Chevy truck driven by Austin Lampe, 16, Spearville, were traveling on 127 Road at Foothill one mile east of Spearville.
Both vehicles entered the intersection at the same time.
The Mack truck driver failed to yield to the right of way. He admitted he sped up to beat the Chevy and the vehicles collided, according to the KHP.
Lampe was transported to Western Plains Medical Center.
Lopez-Delgadillo was not injured.
Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP
Salina -With the departure of Great Lakes Airlines flight #3021 from the Salina Regional Airport Wednesday morning at 7:45, Central Kansas residents again have access to scheduled air service.
“The Salina market looks very promising and we expect to see a quick increase in passenger boardings “stated Great Lakes president Chuck Howell in a media release.
Howell added, “Salina passengers will be pleased with the comfort and speed of our 30 seat Embraer Brasilia regional aircraft.”
For travel beyond Denver, Great Lakes is a United Airlines code share partner, which enables passengers the opportunity to connect with United Airlines flights at the airline’s Denver hub.
FINNEY COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Finney County are investigating a suspect following an alleged report of domestic violence and police chase.
Just before 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Officers of the Garden City Police Department were dispatched to the 1700 Block of N. 8th Street for a reported battery in progress, according to a media release.
As officers were responding to the scene the reporting person advised the suspect had left the scene in a white passenger car westbound on Campbell Street.
Officers located the suspect vehicle traveling north on 11th Street and attempted a traffic stop on the vehicle at 11th and Emerson Street.
The suspect vehicle refused to stop and a vehicle pursuit was initiated. The pursuit ended when the suspect, Eli Mendoza, 26, Garden City, lost control of his vehicle in the 1100 Block of Labrador Blvd.
After he struck a dip in the road. The vehicle careened into bushes between the sidewalk and street coming to a stop on Rebel Road.
Mendoza was arrested without incident.
The investigation into the initial battery report revealed Mendoza engaged in a fight in the front yard of an apartment complex in the 1700 Block on North 8th Street.
A witness who was driving by saw the battery in progress so he stopped to intervene, according to police.
The victim ran into the apartment and Mendoza pursued her, pushing his way into the apartment. Once inside the apartment Mendoza battered the victim again, took her cell phone and then fled the scene in the vehicle.
Mendoza is being held in the Finney County Jail and could face the possible charges of:
Aggravated Burglary, Interference with a Law Enforcement Officer, Battery,
Assault, Fleeing and Eluding, Driving under the Influence
Driving While License Suspended and Transportation of an Open Container of Alcohol
In recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day today, June 15, the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner spotlights the importance of safeguarding Kansas’s senior population by keeping a watchful eye for signs of elder financial exploitation and promptly reporting possible abuse to appropriate officials.
Elder financial abuse is rising with the rapid aging of the North American population, due in part to the amount of wealth seniors have accumulated throughout their careers and their increasing isolation.
Many in our older population are vulnerable due to social isolation and distance from family, caregivers, and other support networks. The days of aging in communities surrounded by generations of family members are fading into the past. We need as many eyes and ears as possible listening and watching for signs of suspect elder financial exploitation.
The Kansas Area Agencies on Aging provide resources to older Kansans in all 105 counties across the state and have partnered with the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner to help prevent the financial exploitation of older Kansans.
According to Julie Govert Walter, executive director of the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging, scammers and fraudsters target older Kansans, and their ploys often rob seniors of millions of dollars of their hard-earned money. She says many seniors who have health issues also experience a diminished capacity to manage their personal finances. Worse yet, sometimes the people seniors turn to for help with their money prove to be less than worthy.
To help fight this problem, watch for the following warning signs of suspicious behavior that may indicate potential elder financial exploitation:
* Has an elder moved away from existing relationships and toward new associations with other “friends” or strangers?
* Has a new person entered the elder’s life and shown an excessive interest in the elder’s finances or accounts?
* Are you unable to speak directly with the elder despite repeated attempts at contact?
* Does the elder display unexplained excitement over a financial windfall or prize check and reluctance to discuss details?
The KSC has developed presentations titled Outsmarting Investment Fraud to provide across the state to older Kansans and have been presenting to senior center groups this month. Seniors attending the presentations will leave equipped with the skills to recognize the persuasion tactics of scam artists and the red flags of fraud, as well as the knowledge of what to do to prevent scams. If you are interested in the KSC presenting to your local group, contact Shannon Stone, Director of Investor Education at the KSC, at (913) 652-9164.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ governing board of the state’s universities has signed off on requests to raise tuition higher than first proposed by many of the campuses.
In an effort to make Hays streets safer, HPD has joined the 
FORD COUNTY – A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just before 9:30p.m. on Wednesday in Ford County.
FINNEY COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities in Finney County are investigating a suspect following an alleged report of domestic violence and police chase.
