Lt. Gen. Robert Brown gave his final farewell speech as commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth to the students attending the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.- photos by Dan Neal/Ft. Leavenworth
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — The commanding general of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas has been picked to lead the U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii.
The Army installation announced Friday that Lt. Gen. Robert B. Brown relinquished command Thursday after receiving Senate confirmation for a four-star promotion. As the commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, he will lead about 80,000 soldiers in an area stretching from the northwest coast of Alaska to Japan.
Brown had served as the commander of Fort Leavenworth and a training facility called the Combined Arms Center since February 2014.
He has been involved in developing a program to train people who assist sexual assault victims. Fort Leavenworth said in a news release that Brown also has
photo by Dan Neal- Fort Leavenworth
overseen an effort to offer soldiers college credit and certification for their Army service.
SHERMAN COUNTY- One person was injured in an accident just before 5 p.m. on Friday in Sherman County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Dodge passenger car driven by Jason Michael Funk, 37, Sandpoint, ID. was westbound on Interstate 70 seven miles east of Goodland.
The driver lost control and hit the driver’s side of a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country driven by Jesse Duane Blasdel, 35, Hutchinson, that was on the shoulder coming to a rolling stop.
Funk was transported to the Hospital in Goodland.
Blasdel and five passengers in the van were not injured. All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first commercial test for Zika virus has been granted emergency use in the U.S. and could be available by next week.
The Food and Drug Administration gave the authorization Thursday to test developer Quest Diagnostics, which said it could be available to doctors early next week. The company said the test results will initially be processed at a laboratory in California, with the potential of expanding to several dozen other locations. Previously Zika tests were only available through a handful of government-designated laboratories.
Zika has become epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean since last fall. The virus, mainly spread through mosquito bites, causes mild illness or no symptoms in most people. But it can cause a severe birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads
FORD COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 2 p.m. on Friday in Ford County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Toyota Camry driven by Daniel J. Arkell-Roca, 41, Dodge City, was eastbound on U.S. 50 eight miles west of Dodge City.
An unidentified westbound cattle truck veered into the Toyota’s lane.
The Toyota left the roadway, enter the south ditch, went down the embankment and over the edge of a concrete culvert.
Arkell-Roca was transported to Western Plains Medical Center.
He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -Kansas Department for Children and Families officials say it will begin texting parents who owe child support in an effort increase collections.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the department started a pilot project with 100,000 Kansas residents to see if texting helps remind parents to pay child support. The department will also try using texts to remind people about court dates and other appointments.
A news release about the program says that texts will be sent to remind non-custodial parents who haven’t paid child support in the last 45 days.
Department spokeswoman Theresa Freed says the programs costs the state less than $5,000, which comes from postal mail savings.
Freed says that of the pilot proves to increase collections until June 30, the department will implement across the state.
Kansas legislators have given their final approval to a bill that would limit the power of cities and counties to levy property taxes starting next year.
The measure passed Friday revises a property tax lid that was enacted last year and is set to take effect in January 2018. The bill makes the effective date January 2017.
The votes were 112-5 in the House and 37-3 in the Senate. The measure goes next to Gov. Sam Brownback.
Cities and counties couldn’t spend an increase in property tax revenues above the rate of inflation without voters’ approval with some exceptions. Local officials who couldn’t spend the extra revenues would have to drop tax levies.
Supporters say local voters will have more control. Critics worry that local services will be hurt.
HUTCHINSON — The State’s high court has ruled that the writings of a Hutchinson teen accused of first degree murder in the death of his mother and sister can go before doctors that will determine if he is competent to stand trial.
Sam Vonachen faces two counts of first degree murder for setting fire to the family home in September of 2013.
The state argued a motion for forcing the defendant to hand over writings or a journal that the defendant has been doing since his arrest.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell argued that this was not for the state or their case, but rather for the doctors doing a mental evaluation to see if the defendant is competent to stand trial.
The defense called them privileged and asked that the state’s request be denied.
On the suggestion of the state, Judge Trish Rose told the defense to provide the writings to her first and then she’ll rule whether they can be released to the doctors.
When she sided with the state the defense filed an appeal in the case, which was denied.
CHEYENNE, Kan. (AP) — An event at a wildlife refuge in Cheyenne will allow visitors to see and learn about thousands of shorebirds that have migrated to the rural Kansas area this spring.
The Hutchinson News reports that the Great Migration Rally will be held this weekend at Cheyenne Bottoms, which usually sees a plethora of shorebirds from late April though early May.
But Pam Martin, a Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism educator at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, says this year is different as more than 150,000 shorebirds found refuge at Cheyenne Bottoms last week.
The Nature Conservancy says Cheyenne Bottoms is a rest stop for nearly half of all American shorebirds during the migration season. Shorebirds also travel to nearby Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
After just under three hours of deliberation, an Ellis County jury found Fernando Insaurralde Cantero, 20, Paraguay, not guilty on all counts in a trial that ran through the week.
Cantero faced charges rape, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated burglary stemming from a sexual encounter in the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2015, with a fellow Fort Hays State University student in her dorm room.
Cantero was enrolled as an international student at FHSU and was a member of the soccer team. He had only been on campus for a little over a month when the incident took place.
Throughout the week, jurors heard conflicting evidence surrounding the incident, with the defense questioning law enforcement on the thoroughness of the investigation and the lack of proof of the complaining witness’s intoxication.
Crystalyn Oswald, Assistant Ellis County Attorney, who led the prosecution, argued through the trial the complaining witness was extremely intoxicated when Cantero entered her dorm room around 3 a.m. Sept. 20.
Both parties testified as to sexual activities taking place, but Cantero argued the activities were consensual and initiated by the complaining witness.
However, his inability to communicate in English meant no verbal communication could take place between either the complaining witness or two other students that accompanied Cantero through female areas of their dormitory.
Throughout the proceedings, Cantero communicated through a court translator.
After being found not guilty, District Judge Glenn Braun released Cantero on all conditions of his bond.
Photo by Jim McLean/KHI News Service Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, is one of six legislators — three each from the House and Senate — on a conference committee charged with negotiating final versions of 17 health-related bills before the Legislature adjourns. He’s working to resurrect a House-approved bill that would prohibit minors from using commercial tanning beds. –
The chairman of the House health committee is working to resurrect a bill that would prohibit minors from using commercial tanning beds. Rep. Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, is one of six legislators — three each from the House and Senate — on a conference committee charged with negotiating final versions of 17 health-related bills before the Legislature adjourns. Different versions of some bills in the committee have passed both the House and Senate. Others have cleared one chamber but not the other.
The tanning-ban bill passed the House in March, but the Senate never took it up.
Hawkins wants the Senate to vote on the bill in exchange for the House agreeing to consider two measures that are priorities for the Senate. One would tighten eligibility requirements for state welfare programs. The other would allow the companies that manage KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to initiate a “step therapy” program to control prescription drug costs.
The tanning bill would prohibit anyone under 18 from using ultraviolet tanning beds. It is a top priority for the American Cancer Society.
“We are very hopeful that lawmakers will prioritize cancer prevention in the remaining days of the session,” said Hillary Gee, a lobbyist for the society’s Cancer Action Network.
It also is a priority for the University of Kansas Cancer Center, which is seeking National Cancer Institute designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center.
In a letter distributed to members of the Senate, Dr. Roy Jensen, director of the center, said passage of the tanning-ban bill could enhance the center’s NCI application, which will be submitted in September.
“This bill represents a key component of our drive towards demonstrating a robust cancer control and prevention program at the KU Cancer Center,” Jensen wrote.
But Jensen and other doctors who testified for the Kansas bill said research shows that people who use tanning beds before age 35 dramatically increase their chances of developing melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. A December 2012 study published in the British Medical Journal put the increased risk at 59 percent.
Jensen’s testimony in February at a House health committee hearing and the personal stories of two Kansas melanoma survivors helped convince members to recommend the bill to the full House, which passed it 77-44 on March 10.
In an interview Thursday, Hawkins said getting the tanning-ban bill through the Senate and to Gov. Sam Brownback is a priority for the House members on the conference committee.
He said if the Senate conferees aren’t willing to support it, House negotiators may withdraw their support for the step therapy and welfare eligibility bills. “The bill needs to move forward,” he said. However, it remains to be seen how hard Hawkins will push given that he also is a co-sponsor of the bill that would tighten welfare eligibility.
The federal Food and Drug Administration also is considering new restrictions on indoor tanning, including a ban like the one proposed in the Kansas bill. The public comment period closed in March but the regulations haven’t been finalized.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has been sentenced to life in prison in the shooting death of his estranged wife.
The Wichita Eagle reports that 29-year-old Pierre Ross Washington was sentenced Thursday for first-degree felony murder. Police say Diana Washington was 26 when she was killed in October at a Wichita park.
Prosecutors say Washington had told one of her relatives beforehand that he was thinking about killing her and her new boyfriend.
Police officers who responded to Washington’s 911 call found his wife’s body in a van parked about two miles from the park. Washington admitted shooting her when he talked to the emergency dispatcher.
Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon says Washington must serve 25 years of the sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Robbery Section at 268-4518 or Crimestoppers
