HPD Asst. Chief Brian Dawson shows a Halloween bag available free at the police department.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Halloween is nearly here and the Hays Police Department wants you to help make it safe for children.
“Welcome trick-or-treaters approaching your residence with the porch light and other exterior lighting turned on,” recommends HPD Asst. Chief Brian Dawson.
Motorists should be extra cautious.
“Slow down and be careful during trick-or-treating hours. Little kids sometimes get anxious and might want to jot across the roadway without paying attention to traffic if they’re excited.”
There are also safety tips for the trick-or-treaters themselves.
“Make sure they go trick-or-treating with a grownup or older sibling. Visit only people they know and have a route to follow with a designated time they’re expected to be back home.”
Halloween costumes should fit properly.
“Children should be able to see and hear properly while wearing their costume and the length shouldn’t be so long as to cause a tripping hazard. They’re going to be moving in the dark or during lower light.”
Keep Fido in mind during all the fun. “Don’t scare the dog with Halloween costumes. We don’t think about that–it can kind of rile up the family pet.”
Costumes and clothing should be brightly colored and reflective. “Reflective patches can be added,” Dawson suggests, “or kids can wear a glow stick, carry a flashlight to help illuminate the path where they’re walking.”
He also recommends what may be difficult for some.
“Don’t eat the treats until you get home and the adults have a chance to look at what’s in the goody bag.
“The Hays Police Department wants to with everyone a safe and happy Halloween,” Dawson added.
Over a three-month period, Kansas has paid private law firms nearly $300,000 to defend against a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood over the state’s attempt to defund it. FILE PHOTO
The state of Kansas incurred nearly $300,000 in legal fees in just three months to defend a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood challenging the state’s decision to boot the organization from the Medicaid program.
Invoices obtained show that outside law firms representing the state billed it $282,477 in legal fees and $2,725 in expenses between May 29 and Aug. 31.
The invoices were provided by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in response to a Kansas Open Records Act request. KDHE Secretary Susan Mosier is the defendant in the lawsuit, which seeks to overturn her decision in May to block Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood.
The invoices provided by KDHE did not include billings for the months of September and October. But at the current burn rate of about $100,000 a month, the state is likely to have incurred around $500,000 in legal fees and expenses by now in what – if other, similar cases around the country are a guide – is almost sure to be a losing cause.
Moreover, if Planned Parenthood prevails in the lawsuit, it will be entitled to recover its own legal fees from the state. Those could add up to tens or hundreds of thousands dollars more at a time when the state is facing huge budget shortfalls.
That’s what happened to Missouri in August, when it was ordered to pay Planned Parenthood $156,000 in legal fees after it lost a court battle over its attempt to revoke Planned Parenthood’s abortion license in Columbia, Missouri.
KDHE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its legal fees.
Brownback vow
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (now Planned Parenthood Great Plains) sued Mosier in May, one day after her agency notified the organization of KDHE’s decision to end its participation in Medicaid.
KDHE’s decision was expected; in his State of the State address in January, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback had accused Planned Parenthood of illegally selling “baby body parts” and vowed to strip the organization of state funding.
Brownback was reacting to the release last year of heavily edited undercover videos made by an anti-abortion group showing Planned Parenthood officials in other states discussing the use of fetal tissue for research.
Planned Parenthood denied that it sells fetal tissue for profit and a grand jury in Houston later found no evidence of illegal activity. The Kansas Board of Healing Arts came to a similar conclusion in January about Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, says she’s not surprised by the amounts the state has incurred. Over the last 15 years, she says, “the state of Kansas has conducted a very expensive, targeted campaign against one organization, that being Planned Parenthood.”
“This is state-sponsored harassment of a single organization that does nothing but provide high-quality health care to tens of thousands of patients each year that frankly, in many cases, they cannot access elsewhere,” she says. “We go through hoop after hoop, inspection after inspection, lawsuit after lawsuit, with no findings (of wrongdoing).”
Kansas has actually incurred more than $300,000 in legal fees so far defending Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit. The state Attorney General’s office briefly defended Mosier and then transferred the case to KDHE’s legal office. In response to a separate Open Records Act request, the Attorney General’s office said it incurred $19,820 in legal fees before its contract with Thompson Ramsdell Qualseth & Warner, a Lawrence law firm that frequently represents Kansas agencies in court, ended on May 17.
Separately, the Associated Press reported nearly three years ago that Kansas had paid private law firms more than $1 million to defend anti-abortion laws enacted in the previous three years. That amount included $179,000 in attorneys’ fees and expenses to defend various lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions enacted in 2013.
High-powered law firms
KDHE has been represented in the Planned Parenthood lawsuit by two high-powered Washington, D.C., law firms: Norton Rose Fulbright, a global law firm with 3,800 lawyers on six continents, and Consovoy McCarthy Park, a boutique law firm that includes two lawyers who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and another who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Norton Rose billed KDHE $137,314 for 279.25 hours of work during two months of work between June 1 and July 29, according to its invoices. That equates to an average of nearly $492 per hour.
Consovoy McCarthy billed out $ 145,163 in attorneys’ fees for 197.5 hours of work between May 29 and Aug. 31. That translates into an average of $735 an hour. It also billed out $2,695 in expenses.
D.C. lawyers tend to charge higher rates than lawyers in all but a handful of markets across the country. A 2012 law firm partner survey by the legal consulting group Major Lindsey & Africa estimated average billing rates for D.C. lawyers at $662 per hour.
The clock continues to tick in the Planned Parenthood case. In July, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson blocked Mosier from defunding Planned Parenthood, finding that such a move would probably violate federal law.
Following Robinson’s ruling, Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley told KCUR that the state intended to press ahead with the case.
“The governor is going to continue the fight to make Kansas a pro-life state,” she said. “You know, this is a preliminary ruling. We need to look at the ruling more closely, but our intent is to move forward with the litigation.”
The case is now before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver after Mosier appealed Robinson’s decision. Mosier is represented on appeal by Consovoy McCarthy and her brief is due on Wednesday.
If other court decisions are any indication, Mosier is likely to lose on appeal. About a dozen states have tried to defund Planned Parenthood and in most cases federal courts have blocked their efforts.
Kansas is in the 10th federal circuit, and significantly, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July granted Planned Parenthood’s motion for a an order blocking the state of Utah from defunding Planned Parenthood.
Kansas’ move to cut off Planned Parenthood came just two weeks after the Obama administration warned all 50 state Medicaid agencies that the provision of abortion services was not grounds for terminating Medicaid funding.
Federal law already prohibits public funding of abortion services, which are separate from Planned Parenthood’s other family planning, wellness and other health services.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
High temperatures on Friday ranged from the mid 80s to the lower 90s.
Russell, Dodge City and Garden City and Wichita set new record highs, according to the National Weather Service.
Unseasonably warm temperatures today as a few locations either broke or tied their previous records! #kswxpic.twitter.com/oKgGOcjS4T
4A-D2 District 7
*Concordia 0 Scott City 42 Colby 54 Goodland 23
2A District 6 Republic Co. 35 Sacred Heart 10
2A District 7 *Plainville 46 La Crosse 12
Oakley 40 Ellis 61
6A playoffs 1st Round
Haysville Campus 21 Hutchinson 56
Dodge City 15 Washburn Rural 27
Wichita East 14 Garden City 49
5A playoffs 1st Round Emporia 14 Liberal 7
Salina South 0 Goddard 52
Topeka West 31 Great Bend 70
AP-FBH–Kansas Prep Scores, 4th Ld-Writethru,0420
Friday’s Scores
By The Associated Press
PREP FOOTBALL
Andale 39, El Dorado 18
Augusta 42, Rose Hill 20
Baldwin 42, Prairie View 33
Basehor-Linwood 27, Tonganoxie 12
Bishop Miege 57, Spring Hill 19
Buhler 65, Circle 40
Columbus 45, Parsons 6
DeSoto 35, Eudora 0
Frontenac 48, Baxter Springs 0
Holcomb 47, Hugoton 7
Independence 26, Chanute 7
Ingalls 74, Fowler 28
Jackson Heights 22, Centralia 14
KC Piper 40, Atchison 19
Labette County 40, Coffeyville 0
Louisburg 35, Paola 7
Maize South 49, Andover Central 0
McPherson 28, Abilene 7
Mulvane 53, Winfield 31
Olpe 26, Lyndon 20
Oswego 33, Yates Center 16
Ottawa 47, Fort Scott 0
Pittsburg Colgan 48, Uniontown 0
Plainville 46, LaCrosse 12
Pratt 35, Kingman 0
Republic County 35, Salina Sacred Heart 10
Rock Creek 43, Chapman 8
Scott City 42, Concordia 0
Smoky Valley 30, Clay Center 28, OT
South Barber 48, Bucklin 0
Topeka Hayden 58, Jefferson West 8
Ulysses 34, Wellington 13
Wabaunsee 56, Doniphan West 12
Wamego 30, Hays 13
Washington County 42, Valley Heights 36
Wichita Northwest 29, Topeka 28
Class 6A State Tournament
First Round
Blue Valley 54, SM South 0
BV Northwest 36, BV North 33, 2OT
Derby 62, Wichita North 0
Garden City 49, Wichita East 14
Gardner-Edgerton 23, Olathe Northwest 16
Hutchinson 56, Wichita Campus 21
Junction City 54, Wichita West 28
Lawrence 51, BV West 6
Lawrence Free State 52, Wichita South 14
Manhattan 63, Wichita Southeast 20
Olathe South 35, Olathe East 14
SM North 36, Olathe North 22
SM West 70, KC Wyandotte 6
Washburn Rural 27, Dodge City 15
Wichita Northwest 29, Topeka 28
Class 5A State Tournament
First Round
Andover 35, Goddard-Eisenhower 14
Blue Valley Southwest 26, Pittsburg 16
Bonner Springs 43, Lansing 0
Emporia 14, Liberal 7
Goddard 52, Salina South 0
Great Bend 70, Topeka West 31
KC Schlagle 24, Highland Park 16
KC Turner 61, KC Washington 49
Maize 22, Arkansas City 20
Mill Valley 56, KC Sumner 0
St. James Academy 42, Shawnee Heights 25
St. Thomas Aquinas 39, Leavenworth 13
Topeka Seaman 61, KC Harmon 22
Valley Center 28, Newton 20
Wichita Bishop Carroll 41, Kapaun Mount Carmel 8
Wichita Heights 55, Salina Central 0
HAYS, Kan. – The 20th-ranked Fort Hays State men’s soccer team improved to 11-3-1 overall and 4-1 in the MIAA on Friday with a 4-1 win over Southwest Baptist. The Bearcats dropped to 0-14-2 overall and 0-6 in the conference.
The game served as Senior Night for the six FHSU seniors, who were celebrated at halftime with a brief ceremony. The six seniors honored on the night were Jose Aguilar, Michael Cole, Damion Cooper, Maurizio Costa, Tyler VanCamp and Drew Wilson.
Luis Mendez gave the Tigers the lead late in the first half when he recorded his seventh goal of the season at the 33:52 mark. Mendez settled a ball from Arsenio Chamorro, put a move on a defender and rifled the shot from 15 yards out to beat the diving keeper.
Just 22 seconds into the second half, Derick Gonzalez extended the Tiger lead to 2-0 when he scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season. After a loose ball landed at his feet, Gonzalez blasted a shot from 12 yards out that found the back of the net.
Gabriel Gaviolli cut the Tiger lead in half at the 63:57 mark. Tiger keeper Jose Aguiler deflected a ball that bounced high into the air and Gaviolli launched himself towards the ball and headed it over the goal line.
Just over two minutes later at 65:59, Dylan Kintner again made it a two goal game in favor of the Tigers with his third goal of the season. Tobias Patino set up Kintner perfectly with a through ball about eight yards out, at which point Kintner sent it easily into the net.
Michael Cole wrapped up the scoring for FHSU when he recorded his fifth goal of the season. After gaining possession of a ball just inside SBU territory, he turned on the afterburners and it was off to the races. Cole sprinted beyond the last line of the Bearcat defense for a breakaway and sent the ball in to the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Aguilar picked up his first win in goal, making the first start of his career at FHSU. He made two saves on the night, one was a huge save on a breakaway to help keep the Bearcats at bay.
The Tigers hit the home pitch one last time in the regular season on Sunday (Oct. 30) when they battle Northeastern State at 1:30 pm.
For a second week in a row Hays High needed a victory to keep their chances at a playoff berth alive. They also needed help from McPherson to beat Abilene to keep the decision from going to a tie-breaking point formula. McPherson took care of their end of the deal, Hays High did not.
It was the first ever game between Hays and Wamego in football. Wamego is the 67th different team has played since 1923.
Wamego came out of the gate and took a two possession lead on a nine play and two play drive to take a 13-0 lead. Hays punted on their first three drives then cut the Wamego lead down to six on a one yard touchdown run by Kohlton Meyers. Wamego took possession of the ball with 4:26 in the half and drove 66 yards on 12 plays to go up 19-7 after a blocked extra point.
Highlights
Hays closed the gap down to one score for a second time after Keaton Markley returned an interception down to the nine yard line. Meyers scored his second touchdown of the night one play later making the score 19-13 following a missed XP.
Wamego marched right back down the field and took back their two score advantage on a 4th and 1, six yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter taking a 27-13 lead.
Hays moved inside the red zone of Wamego on the next possession but threw an interception at the five yard line. Wamego went on for the 30-13 win, tacking on a 28 yard field goal following after Hays lost the ball on downs deep in Wamego territory.
EMPORIA, Kan. – The top-seeded Thomas More Prep-Marian Monarchs volleyball team saw their season come to an end at the 3A state tournament at White Auditorium Friday. The Monarchs (39-4) went 1-2 in pool play and failed to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. After a sweep of Humboldt (25-19, 25-17) in their first match, TMP-M lost to Hesston (24-26, 20-25) then Silver Lake (19-25, 15-25).
All four of the Monarchs losses were at the hands of state tournament teams. Abilene who was the top seed in 4A Division I and Central Plains who was the No. 2 seed in Class 2A in addition to the two teams at the Class 3A tournament.
La Crosse also went 1-2 in pool play and didn’t advance past pool play at the 1A Division I tournament at Gross Coliseum in Hays. The Leopards (33-7) dropped their first match to Hanover (19-25, 21-25), beat Pretty Prairie (25-20, 31-29) then lost to top-seeded Centralia (25-13, 25-20) after the Panthers had lost their first match of the season earlier in the night to Hanover.
Dighton was also 1-2 with losses to Goessel (25-12, 12-25, 15-25) and South Barber (21-25, 20-25) and a win over Lebo (25-17, 25-14).
Wheatland-Grinnell and Otis-Bison both advanced in Class 1A Division II. The top-seeded Thunderhawks (37-6) went 3-0 in pool play defeating Ingalls (25-21, 25-19), Otis-Bison (26-24, 25-21) and Fowler (25-8, 25-12). The Cougars (27-13) finished pool play 2-1. They defeated Fowler (25-19, 25-23), lost to Wheatland-Grinnell then defeated Ingalls (25-12, 25-14).
Wheatland-Grinnell will play No. 2 seed Waverly (28-9) and the fifth-seeded Cougars play No. 7 seed Axtell (25-15) in Saturday’s semifinals at 10 am. The third-place and championship matches follow at 11:30 am.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Four Kansas Supreme Court justices facing a campaign to oust them in the Nov. 8 election are defending the court’s handling of capital punishment cases.
Past high court rulings overturning death sentences are at the center of the effort to remove Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Justices Carol Beier, Dan Biles and Marla Luckert.
Justice Caleb Stegall also is on the ballot for a vote on his retention, but he’s a 2014 appointee and not a target of the ouster campaign.
The four targeted justices declined to discuss specific cases this week in written answers to questions from The Associated Press, citing judicial ethics rules. But all four said the court is fair and impartial.
Nuss and Luckert also noted that the court has upheld several death sentences.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A convenience store clerk has filed a $2 million civil lawsuit against four men serving prison time for a Hutchinson robbery in which the clerk says she was beaten.
Attorney Matt Bretz filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jo Dee Samples.
Authorities say Dakota Ney, Drake Lindsay and Karl Koenig, all 19, and 20-year-old Kurt Koenig robbed the Hutchinson Kwik Shop on Jan. 27 and attacked Samples. The lawsuit says Samples was beaten and a stun gun was used on her. Samples says she’ll likely be permanently disabled.
The men appeared in court Thursday. In written responses to the lawsuit, Karl Koenig said he did not assault the Samples during the robbery and asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed. Kurt Koenig and Lindsay deny the lawsuit’s allegations.
KEARNEY, Neb. – The 21st-ranked Fort Hays State women’s soccer team will look for its first MIAA Regular Season Championship in two days thanks to a 3-0 win at Nebraska-Kearney on Friday. With the win the Tigers improved to 13-3-1 overall and 9-1 in the MIAA. The Lopers dropped to 6-8-3 overall and 3-5-2 in the MIAA and the result eliminates them from a chance for a spot in the MIAA Tournament.
The win for the Tigers also ties the program record for consecutive wins in a season with seven, and it puts them one win shy of their overall program record of 14 wins in a season.
After an uneventful first half that saw just a single shot on goal from either team, the Tiger offense stepped up and delivered. Jasmine Beaulieu gave the Tigers the 1-0 lead in the 65th minute when she recorded her second goal of the season. Kelsey Steffens and Beaulieu connected to execute a successful give-and-go that resulted with Beaulieu alone in front of the net 10 yards out.
Thayla Dwyer made it a 2-0 game with her sixth goal of the season in the 74th minute. A pass from Silvana Romero set up Dwyer with a breakaway and Dwyer chipped the ball over an aggressive goalkeeper 15 yards out.
Steffens added late insurance with just under a minute and a half remaining in the match. About 10 yards out she took a shot that the UNK keeper was able to deflect but quick on her toes, Steffens was able to win the race to the rebound and send the ball across the goal line for her sixth goal of the season.
The Tigers recorded their fifth shutout in the last six games. Abbie Flax earned her ninth shutout of the season between the pipes, stopping three shots on net.
The final match of the regular season will be Sunday when the Tigers look to claim at least a share of the MIAA regular season title on Senior Day. Washburn will be the final MIAA team standing in their way. Kickoff is set for 11 am at FHSU Soccer Stadium in Hays.
4A-D1 District 8
