WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Wichita, Kansas, say a man is in custody after assaulting a police officer and firefighter at a building doubling as a police and fire station.
Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow tells KSNW-TV a 25-year-old man drove erratically onto the station’s lot about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, narrowly missing a firefighter and a man.
Woodrow says the driver exited his vehicle and got into a physical altercation with the two men. When the firefighter rang the police station’s doorbell, a police sergeant stepped out and was pushed and threatened by the suspect.
The motives for the suspect’s confrontation are not immediately clear.
He was jailed on suspicion of criminal threats, terrorism, battery of a law enforcement officer and firefighter, criminal property damage and driving with a restricted license.
Flooding in Norton County on Saturday-photo Norton Co. Emergency Management
NORTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Norton County have recovered the body of a man who drowned in weekend flooding.
Just before 11:30 on Saturday, the Norton County Sheriff’s Office learned that a man was trapped in his vehicle after it slid off Road BB in Lenora due to flooding, according to a media release.
A tree limb had gone through the windshield allowing water to rush in.
Solomon Valley Rural Fire responded and were able to get as close as one-quarter mile before the rushing water impeded their efforts.
As the water began to recede, responders moved in closer but were overcome by moving water.
Early Sunday morning the water had receded to the point that responders could make out the roof of the white vehicle, but the water was still too high and moving too fast to attempt any safe approach.
Sunday afternoon Kansas Highway Patrol flew over the North Fork of the Solomon River without yielding any search results. A drone was brought over from Hays but the video from that flight only showed items in the back of the vehicle and it was not possible to see inside the side windows.
At 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, responders waded into the water toward the car and could then see that nobody was inside the vehicle.
Responders searched roughly a square mile area on ATVs and on foot until it was too dark to continue.
Flooding in Norton County on Saturday-photo Norton Co. Emergency Mgmt
Just after 7:00 a.m. on Monday, volunteer responders from the Graham County Sheriff’s Office, Solomon Valley Rural Fire, Norton Fire, Almena Area Fire, and the Norton County Sheriff’s Office began a search starting from the vehicle and following the path of the river.
At 7:45 a.m., searchers found the body of Bobby Morris, 58, about one-quarter mile southeast of the vehicle.
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LENORA- A search-and-rescue effort is underway in Norton County after the discovery of a vehicle found swept off a road by local floodwaters.
The vehicle was found Sunday morning near Lenora, and that fast-moving waters and floating debris has impeded rescuer efforts to get to it, according to a media release.
The vehicle’s occupant hasn’t been found.
Sunday’s search came a day after two occupants of a car that was swept off a Norton County highway near Edmond were rescued from a tree.
Parts of north central Kansas received 5 to 7 inches of rain on Saturday night.
OSBORNE – There’s no better place for kids to learn outdoor skills than the Annual Northcentral Kansas Outdoor Youth Fair in Osborne on Sat., Sept. 10. And there may not be anything like this one-day, fun-filled event, which is free of charge and open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to youth ages 17 and younger (all those 14 and younger must be accompanied by an adult).
Activities include archery, wingshooting, flyfishing, rifle and muzzleloader shooting, canoeing, dog handling, trapping, whittling, biking and many others. Youth must be registered by 11 a.m. the day of the event to be provided lunch and an opportunity to win door prizes, including a lifetime hunting license, hunting and fishing trips, and a weekend at an area lake cabin.
Archery hunters 14 and older are invited to bring their bows for tune-ups. All other equipment and supplies are provided at no charge.
The Northcentral Kansas Outdoor Youth Fair is made possible by the Osborne County Pheasants Forever Chapter, Osborne Gun Club, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Nex-Tech, and the Keith Hahn Memorial.
For more information, contact Cleo Hahn at (785) 346-4541, John Cockerham at (785) 346-6527, or Chris Lecuyer at (785) 218-7818.
This grant will allow up to 80 people to attend any core leadership training at the Kansas Leadership Center next year. You can find all the details on the website here or by watching this video overview here.
Anyone can apply although efforts are focused on the following audiences:
· Kansas School Districts
· Business Associations in Kansas (Rotary, chambers, trade associations)
· Faith Communities (churches, district denominations, faith organizations)
· Government (city, county, state, elected, appointed)
· Non-profits (non-political and focused in Kansas)
For more information call Ashley Longstaff at (316) 261-1583 or email her at [email protected].
DSNWK announced the date has been set for the fifth annual Esther McMurtrie Memorial Golf Tournament. Friends of DSNWK are sponsoring and coordinating the tournament to be held on Friday, October 7th at the Ellis Golf Course.
The golf tournament is a four-person scramble beginning at 9 a.m. and will once again benefit the group homes of Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas.
Teams are forming now and will include flight prizes for the top three teams, and a chance to win an E-Z-GO golf cart with a hole in one. If you would like to form a team, be a hole sponsor or support the tournament with a contribution, contact Jodie Brazda or Bethany Herreman at (785) 628-3169 or Steve Keil at (785) 625-5678.
Due to the observance of the Labor Day on Monday, September 5, 2016, refuse/recycling route collection schedules will be altered as follows:
Monday, September 5, 2016 and Tuesday, September 6, 2016 will be collected on Tuesday, September 6, 2016.
There will be no changes to Wednesday, September 7th, Thursday, September 8th, and Friday, September 9th routes.
City of Hays’ customers who may have any questions regarding this notice should contact the Solid Waste Division of the Public Works Department at (785) 628-7357.
It is anticipated that heavy volumes of refuse/recyclable will be encountered around the holidays. Please be sure to set your bags out by 7:00 AM on the collection day and keep in mind that the trucks have no set time schedule.
It’s now officially campaign season—though some of us wonder whether the real high-intensity campaigning couldn’t be put off until maybe the first of October—and it’s also the time for figuring out just what breed of Republicans is going to be running things.
Some giant issues aren’t likely to be solved while Gov. Sam Brownback finishes out the final two years of his final term, so some observers are hoping they have enough gas to keep the car idling in the garage for the next two years.
Everyone under the dome is expecting more Democrats in each chamber, and the division between moderate and conservatives is likely to shift slightly but probably not yield majority-sized moderate/Democrat linkups.
Probably the key for Republicans in virtually all House and Senate races is to remain polite to the governor but not show up close enough to him that a chat in the hallway or at a parade or at the grocery store turns into a “Brownback and lackey” photo for Democrats’ campaign use.
So a tilt toward moderation…less iron-handed budget cutting and taxing of everyone except maybe those Limited Liability Companies and the rest of the 300,000 or so who don’t pay state income taxes is likely, but this upcoming session will see some real debate, not committee action that is already slated for defeat before a bill is printed up.
But…there are going to be those candidates on your doorstep, and once again, we’re down to making that time talking through the screen door worthwhile.
Candidates by this time often have some background on individual voters…whether they can just say “2nd Amendment rights” and be done with it, or “dismemberment abortion” and move on, having sealed the deal with the constituent.
But besides just party affiliation or one or two hot-button issues that are deciders for many voters, it’s probably worth your time to ask about the budget, and whether the candidate is willing to vote for tax increases for anyone specific, or in general. This is probably the best time you’ll spend while air conditioning is leaking out onto the porch: Where’s the money coming from? By this time, candidates ought to have some idea (unless they were unopposed in the primary in which case they might not have a clue, but have gotten good at tossing candy to children along parade routes).
Now, not all the candidates have served time in the Legislature, but they’ve gotten enough mail from lobbyists and party organizations to get at least some ideas.
And, it’s probably school finance positions that some will try to get away with by just saying “adequately fund schools” with no concept of where that support—it’s all tax money, after all—is going to come from.
Besides some federal assistance for specific programs, that tax money comes down to state income and sales taxes or local property taxes. Do legislators vow to raise taxes, if needed, to meet Kansas Supreme Court mandates on adequately financing K-12? Or, maybe just meet the court demands with spare change from other areas of the budget?
A tax is a tax, but local property tax for schools is always a touchy issue: Voters (they call them patrons in school districts) where special local property taxes are levied want those taxes to stay right at home in the district, not be spread around the state. That’s something that candidates will probably respond to differently district by district. But…you might want candidates to have an answer before you sew up the vote.
And…maybe if they have to come back with an answer, they can bring some of that extra parade candy that they didn’t get a chance to throw…
Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com
Elyse McKinnon’s rise in motorcycle drag race nearly came to a halt after a tragic accident in 2015. MCKINNON MOTORSPORTS
For anyone who knows Elyse McKinnon, it’s hard to imagine her not tearing down a race track on a motorcycle.
But life without racing is just what the 30-year-old had to consider after a tragic crash in the summer of 2015 left her with a broken back.
McKinnon and her husband, Chris McKinnon, of Lawrence, Kansas, have been avid motorcyclists since moving to the Midwest from Florida shortly after Elyse graduated from college.
Elyse says her competitive drive prompted her transition from weekend rider to competitive drag racer.
“I’ve always been pretty competitive,” she says. “When I’m in a competition, it just fuels something in me that I need to beat that other person. So I need to go as fast as I can to be able to win that race.”
During the past few years, the couple has traveled the region as “McKinnon Motorsports,” taking part in races, with Elyse as racer and Chris as mechanic. Elyse is one of relatively few women in the competitive drag racing circuit.
McKinnon remembers little of the actual race that took place on June 26, 2015, at the I-29 Dragway in Pacific Junction, Iowa.
It started like any other race. She was randomly paired up with another racer, burned out her tires and approached the starting line to wait for the sequence of light that signaled the start of the race.
After that, her memory is a blur.
“I just remember getting woken up again,” McKinnon says.
The ¼-mile “sprints” typically only last around eight seconds, and the turnover of racers happens so fast that no one usually watches the end of the track. And that evening in June, no one saw McKinnon’s crash.
“We’re not 100 percent sure whether it’s a mechanical failure or something else,” McKinnon says. “It seems that it may have been brake related.”
Racer Elyse McKinnon and her husband/mechanic, Chris, tour the Midwest to take part in races. CREDIT MCKINNON MOTORSPORTS
After hearing the announcement “rider down” over the dragway’s PA system, Chris and a friend rushed to the end of the track to find Elyse had crashed into the tire wall designed to stop out-of-control race cars.
She was rushed by helicopter to Nebraska Medical Center, where doctors worked to repair a host of injuries, including a broken back.
“Thankfully, I was very blessed that I didn’t have any spinal cord injury,” McKinnon says, recalling the diagnosis she received from the hospital’s back surgeon. “But the lack of stability, with the fact that that bone was broken all the way through, was why he had the urgency to get the surgery done.”
The day after the crash, the surgeon performed a spinal fusion, connecting broken pieces of vertebrae with titanium rods.
The surgery helped protect her spinal column during the critical early phase shortly after the accident, but the rods will also likely remain in place for the rest of her life.
Surviving the crash and enduring surgery were just the start of McKinnon’s odyssey, however.
During the next several months, she worked with physical therapists in painstaking baby steps to recover her health.
“They would each give me, ‘OK, here’s your goal of things to do,’” McKinnon says. “And I didn’t have anything else to do all day, especially at the beginning, so that’s what I was going to work on.”
McKinnon describes herself as a “pretty optimistic person,” but acknowledges the challenge of recovery could sometimes feel overwhelming.
“I had a couple of days here and there that I got discouraged, but it was always, ‘OK, let’s start the next day fresh. What do I need to get done today?” McKinnon says.
Much of the physical therapy aimed to help her return to walking and moving normally, but the future of her riding also weighed heavily on her mind.
“It was a really big question, something that we talked a lot about, and I thought a lot about: whether I would race again, or even whether or not I would ride a motorcycle again,” McKinnon says. “But after a lot of thought and consideration and prayer about it, too, I decided I couldn’t even imagine my life without doing it again – either driving a motorcycle or racing.”
Ten months after the accident, Elyse and Chris took a motorcycle to their hometown track outside of Lawrence for a test run.
During her first test run, Elyse – for once – was determined to take it slow.
“I just needed to make a pass down the track,” she says. “It didn’t have to be as fast as possible, but I just needed to do it.”
After an easy first ride, McKinnon felt her old confidence quickly start to return.
After enduring a tragic crash and spinal fusion surgery, Elyse McKinnon faced a long recovery. CREDIT MCKINNON MOTORSPORTS
“The second pass, I felt even more comfortable to get a little more aggressive with it,” McKinnon says. “So just kind of stepped up from that first pass, and that’s what I’ve been able to do ever since, is just keep increasing my game to get faster and faster.”
She quickly proved the accident had little lasting effect on the talent or competitive drive that fans and fellow racers had known.
“Early in the season, for 2016, I was able to set a new personal best on one of our bike that we own,” McKinnon says. “That was pretty exciting: to not only just be back in the sport but be competitive back in the sport.”
Alex Smith is a reporter and a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @AlexSmithKCUR.
FINNEY COUNTY- A Kansas woman and three children were injured in an accident just before 10:30p.m. on Sunday in Finney County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Chevy Malibu driven by Rosa Maria Rutiaga, 62, Garden City, was eastbound and failed to yield at the intersection of at Kansas 156 and Mary Street.
The Malibu collided with a 2008 Nissan Rogue driven by Paige Brianne Johnson, 23, Lubbock, Texas.
Rutiaga and three ages 6, 7 and 8 were transported to St. Catherine’s Hospital.
Johnson and a passenger were not injured.
None of the individuals were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
SHERMAN COUNTY – One person died in an accident just before 4 p.m. on Sunday in Sherman County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Honda Motorcycle driven by Daniel M. McCormick, 77, Stratton, CO., was westbound on Interstate 70 six miles east of Goodland.
The motorcycle stuck a westbound GMC Envoy on the passenger side.
The driver lost control of the motorcycle. It slid into the median and rolled into the median.
McCormick was transported to the hospital in Goodland where he died. He was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.
The driver of the GMC Envoy Daniel Lee Martin, 57, Parker, Co., was not injured.
Where the shooting victim crashed into a home early Thursday photo courtesy KWCH
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The family of an 18-year-old killed last week by a sheriff’s deputy after pointing a gun at the law enforcer during a traffic stop says the driver’s own actions “ended his life too soon.”
Caleb Douglas’ family said in a statement Saturday that Douglas was “a caring, loving soul,” but that “his troubles were a concern.” The family says Douglas caused “the (Sedgwick County) deputy to fire his own weapon in self-defense.”
Authorities say the deputy spotted a possible impaired driver early Thursday in Wichita and stopped the vehicle. The sheriff says Douglas pointed a handgun at the deputy’s face after being asked to step out of his car.
The sheriff says the deputy retreated before firing at the driver, who drove off before striking a house.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police in Wichita, Kansas, say a man is in custody after assaulting a police officer and firefighter at a building doubling as a police and fire station.
KDWPT
By THOMAS STANLEY
Teams are forming now and will include flight prizes for the top three teams, and a chance to win an E-Z-GO golf cart with a hole in one. If you would like to form a team, be a hole sponsor or support the tournament with a contribution, contact Jodie Brazda or Bethany Herreman at (785) 628-3169 or Steve Keil at (785) 625-5678.
City of Hays
