GARDEN CITY -Lee Richardson Zoo staff is mourning the passing of Buddy the bald eagle.

One of the zoo’s oldest residents, Buddy was 30 years old when she died on Monday, according to a social media report.

The median life expectancy for bald eagles is 16.5 years.

On Sunday animal care staff found Buddy in her pond with her talon in her disabled wing. Already under veterinary care, staff worked together diligently to help her through this additional health challenge.

“She appeared to be doing better. She was eating, drinking and moving around her habitat like usual but then she went downhill fast,” according to General Curator Jordan Piha.

The results of the necropsy performed Tuesday pointed to an infection as the primary cause of death.

Buddy came to the zoo in 1986 after being found in a lake in Alaska with a broken wing. Due to her injury she was declared non-releasable and found a new home in Garden City where she helped many visitors learn about birds of prey.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A Leavenworth woman is charged with premeditated first-degree murder in the death of her 85-year-old mother.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson says 59-year-old Victoria Smith was charged Tuesday. Her mother, Anna Higgins, was found dead Sunday at a home in Leavenworth.

Police have not said how Higgins was killed.

Smith was taken into custody at the home after her mother’s body was discovered.

She requested a court-appointed attorney during a hearing Tuesday in Leavenworth County District Court.

DOUGLAS COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Douglas County are searching for a suspect who injured an officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday.

Just after 4:30 p.m., a Lawrence Police Officer conducted a traffic stop in the 1100 block of Rhode Island Street, according to a media release.

During the traffic stop, the Officer was drug as the vehicle, a white Ford Fusion bearing Missouri license plate: SM6W3R, fled the scene southbound on Rhode Island Street.

The driver of the Ford Fusion is described as a male wearing a blue suit with a white shirt and a red tie.

The suspect was wearing “aviator style” sunglasses and described as being “clean cut”.

The Officer was injured as a result of being drug by the vehicle and was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Police are asking anyone with information regarding this incident and or possible suspect identification to contact the Lawrence Police Department at 785-832-7509.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Civil rights groups are calling on Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to rescind instructions telling local election officials to throw out votes in local and state races cast by tens of thousands of people who register at motor vehicle offices without proving U.S. citizenship.

The organizations wrote a letter Tuesday noting a Kansas judge has already twice ruled Kobach lacks the legal authority to operate such a two-tiered election system.

Their letter says that for him to disregard the court’s rulings and knowingly operate an illegal system shows a “troublingly cavalier attitude” toward the rule of law and disrespect for voters.

Kobach did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says Kobach is “deliberately creating chaos” for voters.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new government report says growers have cut about 79 percent of their winter wheat crop in Kansas.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service said Tuesday that progress is near the five-year average for this time of year.

Harvest is almost wrapped up in parts of Kansas. More than 90 percent of the crop is now in the bin in central, south-central northeast, east-central and southeast regions of the state.

Harvest is 43 percent finished in the northwest corner of the state, with 58 percent of the crop cut in the west-central region.

The agency also gave mostly favorable crop condition updates this week to corn, soybean and sorghum crops now growing across the state.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Zoo is taking steps to improve an orangutan exhibit after one of the animals got a brief taste of freedom.

View the Orangutan camera here.

Kali, a 7-year-old orangutan, climbed to the top of the wall surrounding the exhibit Sunday. She never left the exhibit or came in contact with people.

The Kansas City Star reports workers on Tuesday were installing more electrified wire and taking other steps to increase security. For now, the seven Bornean orangutans are confined inside the $6 million exhibit.

Zookeepers think Kali grabbed glass panes that separate zoo visitors from the animals and pulled herself 14 feet to the top. When she jumped to a faux rock wall, zoo officials sent visitors into buildings.

The commotion ended when Kali climbed back down into the exhibit.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Turnpike Authority will eliminate gates at three K-Tag lanes this week as part of a pilot program to test video enforcement.

Turnpike spokeswoman Jeri Biehler says video enforcement will begin this week at Interstate 70 toll plazas in east Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas, and at a toll plaza on Interstate 35 on the Oklahoma border.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the new program uses overhead video cameras, instead of gates, to monitor K-Tag express lane traffic. Transponders in K-Tags will be read in the lane. The cameras will capture the license plates of drivers who use the lanes without K-Tags. Those drivers will receive invoices in the mail.

After the system is tested for efficiency, KTA plans to fully implement the program later this summer.

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating two suspects for
allegedly assisting a suspect wanted by authorities for stabbing two men during a disturbance early Sunday morning.

On Monday, Dominic Aita, 30, Salina, and Adam Spaney, 25, Gypsum were booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges of aiding a felon.

John J Brown, 34, was being sought for stabbing 30-year-old Joseph Mullen and 25-year-old Sheldon Freeman at 212 S. Penn around 2:30a.m. Sunday morning.

Mullen was stabbed in the hand and Freeman in the torso.

The victims were taken to Salina Regional Health Center for treatment of their wounds.

Brown was taken into custody Monday afternoon at a home in southeast Saline County.

Brown was arrested on a warrant charging him with attempted first-degree murder, and aggravated battery.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel will lead Kansas’ efforts to establish policies and procedures for the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drones.

Kansas Transportation Secretary Mike King on Tuesday announced the appointment of Bob Brock, a Pittsburg native.

Brock worked with drones during his 22-year Air Force career. He also was a flight safety officer and instructor pilot.

King said in a news release that protecting the privacy and public safety of Kansans as the use of drones increases will be Brock’s top priority.

Brock will have offices in Topeka and at the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus in Salina.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked Kansas from cutting off Medicaid funding for two Planned Parenthood affiliates.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City, Kansas, issued the temporary order Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by local Planned Parenthood affiliates.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment planned to cut off funding Thursday for services such as exams and cancer screenings for poor patients receiving health coverage through Kansas’ Medicaid program.

Federal courts have prevented other states from cutting Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

Kansas state health officials have cited a dispute over a clinic inspection in December and allegations against Planned Parenthood affiliates in Oklahoma and Texas that Planned Parenthood has called unfounded.

Planned Parenthood says it’s being targeted because it provides abortions, even though Medicaid funds don’t cover abortions.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Lansing Correctional Facility’s maximum-security unit returned to normal operations after being on lockdown since Thursday.
Corrections spokesman Adam Pfannenstiel says normal operations returned Tuesday and visitation for inmates in the maximum custody unit also resumed.

The lockdown was imposed Thursday after different inmates attacked staff in what is believed to be four unrelated incidents.
Pfannenstiel says the staff members involved suffered only minor injuries.

He says an investigation to confirm the attacks were unrelated is continuing.

HUTCHINSON -A Kansas man involved in a fatality accident has been formally charged by the state with vehicular homicide and having no insurance.

On May 12, Everette Hardy, 25, Hutchinson, was eastbound on 14th Avenue in Reno County.

He failed to yield at a stop sign and collided with southbound pickup driven by Jack B. Johnson, 80, at the intersection of Poplar Street, according to Police

Johnson was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center for treatment of injuries and was later transported to a Wichita hospital where he died on June 3.

Hardy was cited at the time for disobeying the stop sign, but now faces the much more serious charge.