TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Washburn University graduate assistant football coach who originally was charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 23-year-old Jesse Robert Bubke, of Topeka, admitted Tuesday to one count of battery and two counts of criminal restraint. Under the plea, he will serve 60 days in the Shawnee County Jail and be placed on probation for 10 months after that.
Senior assistant district attorney Dustin Curry told the judge he had discussed the proposed plea with the victim, who was in full agreement with it.
Police said the woman reported in March that she had been kidnapped from a bar, taken to Bubke’s home, assaulted and released. As a graduate assistant, Bubke has coached defensive backs.
Indian mascot decorates the basketball gym at Hays High School
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Native American mascots are popular among Kansas high schools even as a national debate brews over whether they should be eliminated.
The Manhattan Mercury analyzed a list of all the high school mascots in Kansas.
Fourteen schools have the mascot name “Indians,” making that the fourth most popular in the state. One of those schools is in Manhattan, where the school board is considering changing it. Advocates say the mascot is offensive or insensitive to American Indians.
Manhattan has used an Indian mascot since 1940. A push to change the mascot in 2001 was unsuccessful.
The list obtained from the Kansas State High School Activities Association also shows that three schools use Redskins; two use Redmen. Wamego uses Red Raiders. Two use Chieftains; two use Braves.
Saturday’s weather forecast for Hays is calling for a high of 73 degrees and sunny–perfect conditions for the “2016 What’s In Your Water? Family Fun Fest Nature Trail Walk” at Hays Medical Center, 2220 Canterbury Drive.
The free event is a partnership between a Fort Hays State University leadership class, KSU Watersheds, the city of Hays and HaysMed. Activities include fun, hands-on educational stations about soils, water, plants and the environment, according to KSU Watershed Specialist Stacie Minson, WaKeeney.
It’s also an opportunity to learn about the natural vegetation at HaysMed which recently won an award from the city for water-smart landscaping.
“They’ve done an excellent job of establishing native plants and taking a more ‘wild’ approach,” said Greg Sund, Hays Public Works Director. “It lets nature highlight what it does in this area and look more like a prairie in some cases.”
“At the same time, it provides ample opportunity for those plants to clean the stormwater that runs off. Instead of having to be regularly cared for and receive fertilizer, these plants clean the water rather than put more nutrients in the water. So, when we have people who don’t clean up after their pets, or whatever, these plants will help clean the water (runoff) before it reaches our waterways,” Sund explained.
“The landscaping can also help catch litter that can be cleaned up before it becomes a problem in our waterways, creeks and rivers,” he added.
HaysMed has converted the majority of the hospital grounds to environmentally friendly landscaping. This type of landscaping diminishes erosion, improves habitat and also reduces the use of water. The project decreased six acres of fescue grass to one acre, thus substantially reducing outside water use while maintaining an attractive grounds presentation for patients, families and the public.
The hospital also incorporated a water barrel tree watering system.
The nature trail walk is 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. Participants should park in HaysMed parking lots G or F, adjacent to the nature trail.
There’s no charge to attend and free snacks and drinks will be provided.
For more information, contact Minson at [email protected] or (785) 814-7100.
Police on the scene of Wednesday’s shooting at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 5400 block of E. 21st. Street between Oliver and Woodlawn -photo courtesy KWCH
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say an 18-year-old man is dead after 20 to 30 rounds were fired at a car in northeast Wichita.
The shooting happened before 5 a.m. Wednesday in an apartment complex parking lot.
Wichita police Lt. Todd Ojile says officers found the victim inside the car. The Wichita man had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ojile says he had gone to the apartments to see someone but didn’t live at the complex. His name wasn’t immediately released, pending notification of his relatives.
Police are interviewing witnesses and urging anyone with information to come forward.
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WICHITA— Police say an 18-year-old is dead after a shooting in the parking lot of the Woodgate apartment complex in the 5400 Block of East 21st. Street in northeast Wichita, according to a social media report.
The shooting happened just after 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
No other details were immediately available, including the name of the victim.
Photo by Andy Marso/KHI News Service Shawn Sullivan, right, the governor’s budget director, says this year’s Kansas revenue projections would have been more accurate if the process incorporated recommendations released Tuesday. At left is Sam Williams, a retired accountant selected to lead the working group that made the recommendations.
BY ANDY MARSO
A working group appointed by Gov. Sam Brownback unveiled Tuesday a host of recommendations for changing the way Kansas officials estimate the amount of tax revenue the state will receive each year.
The recommendations include overhauling the group that makes the estimates and making a controversial change to the way monthly tax revenue is reported.
The governor’s office and the Legislature use the tax revenue estimates as a guide to the amount the can spend for all services, including education, health care and transportation.
The current process has been in place for decades. But state revenues have consistently failed to meet estimates since 2012, when Brownback and the Legislature approved significant income tax cuts and then followed with increases in other taxes in subsequent years.
Sam Williams, a retired accountant tapped to lead the working group, said the inability to adapt to the tax changes shows the revenue estimating process needs improvement.
“When there’s a significant tax policy change, the system breaks down, and that’s exactly what we’ve been through in the state of Kansas the last four years,” Williams said.
A consensus revenue estimating group makes tax revenue projections twice a year. The group includes representatives of the Division of the Budget, Kansas Department of Revenue and Kansas Legislative Research Department and one consulting economist each from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University.
Williams’ group recommended eventually removing the current economists and putting out a bid for a single economist experienced in economic and revenue forecasting.
“The tools we have are not accurate,” Williams said. “The people we’re bringing to the table are not bringing, in our opinion, the expertise to the table we need to bring.”
Controversy over monthly reports
Williams’ group also recommended that revenue estimators:
Gather additional data from more diverse sources for the twice-annual revenue forecasting meetings, including macroeconomic reports and information from experts in industries important to Kansas, like agriculture.
Buy new computer software to form economic and revenue models.
Use statistical methods that focus less on past trends.
Restructure the Department of Revenue to increase expertise.
Estimate capital gains separately from individual income tax receipts.
Remove monthly projections from Department of Revenue reports and report only actual collections compared to the same month of the prior year.
The governor’s office can make those changes without legislative approval.
Democratic leaders immediately voiced concerns about the proposal to scrap the reports that compare actual collections to monthly projections.
Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, the top Democrat on the Senate budget committee, said that would make it more difficult for legislators to know if the state was on track to be able to fund its budget or if the budget needed to be adjusted.
Kelly said the monthly missed revenue targets have become a political embarrassment for Brownback.
“Clearly this is an effort to get that out of the news,” Kelly said. “Because it has been bad and will probably continue to be bad.”
The proposal to end the monthly comparisons comes on the heels of a decision by Brownback’s Council of Economic Advisors to scrap a quarterly report showing Kansas lagging in metrics the governor said should be used to evaluate his policies.
Williams said his group’s recommendations were not a response to the current economic or political environment. Instead, he said they were intended to better account for tax changes and economic trends like the drop in commodity prices and oil prices.
He said the proposals would make the twice-annual forecasts accurate enough that comparisons to monthly projections would become irrelevant.
Tax changes drive revenue uncertainty
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley said in a prepared statement that the current revenue estimating process had been in place since 1975, through eight administrations. It had been accurate, Hensley said, until Brownback and Republican legislators began overhauling the tax code.
Kelly likewise said the flood of tax changes since 2012 made inaccuracies in the revenue estimates inevitable.
“I don’t see how any of these recommendations are going to change that,” she said.
But Shawn Sullivan, the governor’s budget director, said this year’s projections would have been more accurate under Williams’ recommendations.
Sullivan said he already was working to implement some of the group’s recommendations, but the administration still was evaluating the proposal to change the monthly reports.
“This particular recommendation, we’ll have to discuss with the governor, the Legislature, with KLRD if we decide to implement it,” he said.
Sullivan said a decision on the monthly reports likely would be made later this year or early next year.
Williams’ group also recommended that the Legislature allow the executive branch to delay April revenue forecasts until May to sync better with state income tax deadlines and allow more input on the fiscal notes that legislators use to evaluate the effect of tax bills before voting on them.
Far more companies used the exemption than originally estimated, leading to questions about whether corporations were changing their structure to take advantage of it.
Williams said the work group found no evidence that was the case.
Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso
FAIRVIEW, Okla. (AP) — A 3.5 magnitude earthquake has rattled parts of northwestern Oklahoma.
No damage or injuries have been reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake was recorded at 10:02 a.m. Wednesday near Fairview which is 170 miles southeast of Dodge City.
The earthquake was recorded at a depth of about three miles.
Geologists say a magnitude 3 temblor was recorded earlier Wednesday near Mooreland, about 50 miles northwest of Fairview. That quake occurred at 8:46 a.m. and was recorded at a depth of about three miles.
An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. State regulators have ordered some wells to close.
DOWNS — If you think the grasshoppers in your yard this summer were big this year – tell us about them! This vintagepostcards.org photo has a story to go along with it for sure. Check out the Tall Tales preliminary contest for tellers to be held Saturday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Lutheran Fellowship Hall, 1019 Blunt St., Downs.
All the stories told at the Oct. 8 Tall Tale Contest in Downs will be true — except for the parts that aren’t. Participants in the contest will not only invite you to listen and be entertained, they’ll draw you into their tall tales as they compete to appear on stage at the Kansas Storytelling Festival.
Come help us sort it out. Winners of the Tall Tale preliminaries are chosen by audience vote and a panel of judges. Like Wikipedia says, “A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some stories such as these are exaggerations of actual events …”
The Tall Tale preliminaries are held on the second Saturday of October. Amateur storytellers come together with their best tall tale story prepared to try to outdo each other to get into the Kansas Storytelling Festival in April.
For more information, call (785) 454-6648 or email [email protected].
TOPEKA –A new educational initiative coordinated through several Kansas schools of higher education, including Fort Hays State University,seeks to provide insurance companies in the state with a continual supply of educated, certified employees.
Beginning with the fall 2016 semester, students at four schools are taking core courses for an Insurance Certificate, which involves 12 college credit hours of insurance-related coursework. The courses required for the certificate program are seamless and transferable throughout the participating schools—Washburn University, Fort Hays State University, Johnson County Community College, and the University of Kansas-Edwards Campus.
Fall enrollment shows nearly 80 students potentially working toward the certificate at the four current participating schools.
Other universities establishing the certificate program on their campuses are Pittsburg State University and Kansas State University.
Championing the collaborative effort between the universities and insurance companies operating in Kansas are Ken Selzer, CPA, Kansas Commissioner of Insurance; the Kansas Board of Regents; and the Kansas Insurance Education Foundation (KIEF).
“The developed initiative will provide the Kansas insurance industry with the possibility of a steady stream of college-educated employees,” Commissioner Selzer said. The program allows the participating schools to offer the focus-area courses online or through traditional classroom instruction. Students can take the courses they are most interested in, even if they originate at another school within the program.
Commissioner Selzer and KIEF have been active in recruiting funds for use in program development and scholarships for students seeking the certificate. KIEF, the trustee of the funds, is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt charitable foundation administered by the Kansas Association of Insurance Agents, headquartered in Topeka.
More than $260,000 has been contributed to the program by insurance companies and financial institutions doing business in Kansas. Contributors so far:
· Health and Life pledges—Security Benefit and SE2; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City; AFLAC; Midwest Health, Inc.; Delta Dental of Kansas; Shelter Life Insurance; and American Home Life.
· Property and Casualty pledges—State Farm Insurance; Alliance Companies; Upland Mutual Insurance; KaMMCO; Kansas Mutual Insurance; American Family Insurance; Bremen Farmers Mutual Insurance; Marysville Mutual Insurance; Farmers Insurance; Nationwide Mutual Insurance; and FBL Financial.
· Financial Services pledges—Advisors Excel and Capitol Federal Foundation.
“We are excited about the possibilities of expanding this program,” Commissioner Selzer said. “The Kansas insurance industry is an $18 billion-a-year industry in the state. However, Kansas, as well as many other states, will soon be faced with a shortage of insurance industry employees. We think this initiative will help curtail the shortage and provide Kansans with good-paying, secure employment.”
CLEVELAND (AP) — Authorities say a man charged with murder in the slaying of a former Kansas State University football player outside a Cleveland hookah bar has been arrested.
U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott says officers arrested 27-year-old Jean Blevins during a traffic stop Tuesday in Cleveland. Court records don’t show an attorney for Blevins, who also is charged with manslaughter and assault.
Cleveland.com reports court records indicate Blevins is accused of disposing of a gun his brother used to fatally shoot 26-year-old David Garrett in October 2014. Authorities say Jean Blevins’ brother fired into a crowd after a fight, striking Garrett.
Barry Blevins pleaded guilty in August to involuntary manslaughter.
Kansas State’s website shows defensive back Garrett played at T.W. Harvey High School in Painesville before joining Kansas State’s team in 2009.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison in the shooting death of a Kansas bride as she left her reception in her wedding gown.
Thirty-nine-year-old Thomas Earl Brown Jr. of Topeka was sentenced Tuesday for premeditated first-degree murder in the May 2014 death of 42-year-old Tiffany Davenport-Ray and the attempted murder of her husband, Melvin Ray. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that under the sentence, he must serve at least 71 years and five months.
Prosecutors say shots were fired at the Topeka newlyweds from a sport utility vehicle in which Brown and two others were riding. Prosecutors say Melvin Ray returned fire but wasn’t wounded.
Co-defendant Awnterio Dwan Lowery has also been sentenced to life in prison. The third SUV occupant was later killed.
The theatrical season at Fort Hays State University begins with the music of “Show Boat” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 6, Oct. 7 and Oct. 8.
A matinee performance will be at 2:30 on Sunday, Oct. 9. All performances are in Felten-Start Theatre in Malloy Hall.
“Show Boat,” which premiered on Broadway in 1927, is based on a best-selling novel by Edna Ferber.
Tomme Williams, instructor of music and theatre, is the director, and Dr. Terry Crull, associate professor of music and theatre, is the musical director for the cast of 25 students.
The story follows the lives of three generations of show people on a Mississippi River boat and features songs that have been regularly performed throughout the decades since: “Ol’ Man River,” “Make Believe” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.”
The tickets are affordable at $15 for the public and $10 for seniors and students. Season tickets cost $50 for the public, $30 for FHSU students and $25 for senior citizens, saving ticket holders an average of $10 per show and allowing them to reserve their seats. Season tickets went on sale Sept. 1 and will remain on sale through Sunday, Oct. 9.
Patrons can also purchase all-event passes for $125, which gives admission to more than 30 Music and Theatre Department events.
The Hays Police Department responded to 17 traffic stops and 11 animal calls Mon., Oct. 4, 2016, according to the HPD Activity Log.
Lost Animals ONLY–300 block E 20th St, Hays; 6:22 AM
Animal At Large–400 block E 18th St, Hays; 6:45 AM
Bicycle – Lost,Found,Stolen–1800 block Pine St, Hays; 7:23 AM
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–1000 block of E 22nd St, Hays; 7:45 AM
Warrant Service (Fail to Appear)–1000 block Reservation Rd, Hays; 9:16 AM
Drug Offenses–300 block E 14th St, Hays; 9:58 AM
Animal At Large–1900 block Allen St, Hays; 11:06 AM
Theft (general)–2700 block Vine St, Hays; 9/20 12 AM; 10/4 12:32 PM
Animal At Large–100 block E 28th St, Hays; 12:4 PM
Civil Dispute–1100 block E 43rd St, Hays; 8/22
MV Accident-City Street/Alley–27th and Oak Street, Hays; 3:15 PM
Animal Cruelty/Neglect–700 block E 6th St, Hays; 5:26 PM
Animal Call–2900 block Broadway Ave, Hays; 5:58 PM
Contempt of Court/Fail to Pay–1400 block of Milner St, Hays; 6:03 PM
MV Accident-Private Property–1400 v Main St, Hays; 6:27 PM
Criminal Damage to Property–200 block E 20th St, Hays; 7 PM; 7:05 PM
Animal Call–1300 block Donald Dr, Hays; 7:29 PM
Lost Animals ONLY–300 block W 8th St, Hays; 7:39 PM
Drug Offenses–1400 block E 29th St, Hays; 7:57 PM; 8 PM
“The landscaping can also help catch litter that can be cleaned up before it becomes a problem in our waterways, creeks and rivers,” he added.
By BECKY KISER
KID
