SHAWNEE COUNTY- A Kansas man was critically injured in an accident just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday in Shawnee County.
The Topeka Police Department reported a southbound Mitsubishi passenger vehicle occupied by three people was southbound in 4500 Bock of South Topeka Boulevard.
The vehicle made a left turn in front of a Honda motorcycle driven by Nicholas Wayne Clearwater, 28, Topeka, was southbound on South Topeka Boulevard
Clearwater was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. He was wearing a helmet, according to police.
Police interviewed the driver of the Mitsubishi and passengers and alcohol is not believed to be a contributing factor in the accident.
CHENEY, Kan. (AP) — A volunteer Kansas firefighter has been hospitalized after he collapsed while working to extinguish a weekend grass fire.
The Cheney Volunteer Fire Department says the 48-year-old firefighter became unresponsive Sunday afternoon while he was operating a water truck used to battle the blaze.
Cheney Fire Chief Brad Ewy told KAKE the firefighter suffered a brain bleed. The man’s name hasn’t been released. He’s been in critical condition at a Wichita hospital.
Ewy says he’s been a volunteer firefighter and EMT for seven years and that a gofundme page has been set up to help the firefighter and his family.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country giant Merle Haggard, who celebrated outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as “Okie From Muskogee” and “Sing Me Back Home,” died Wednesday at 79, on his birthday.
Haggard’s manager, Frank Mull, said the country icon died in Palo Cedro, California, of pneumonia.
A masterful guitarist, fiddler and songwriter as well as singer, the Country Music Hall of Famer recorded for more than 40 years, releasing dozens of albums and No. 1 hits.
In November, Haggard performed at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina.
The Goodman Energy Center recently completed a $30 million expansion to add 26 megawatts of capacity from three Wärtsilä natural-gas fueled generators. The expansion required three taller exhaust stacks, due to more stringent EPA emission dispersal rules since the original plant’s construction in 2008.
Midwest Energy completed the expansion of its Goodman Energy Center north of Hays April 1, on schedule and under its original $30 million estimate, though final costs are pending.
“This expansion will provide a reliable and economical source of energy for our member-owners for many decades,” said Earnie Lehman, president and general manager for Midwest Energy.
When the Goodman facility was built in 2008, it was constructed to allow for future expansion should the need arise. “Participation in the Southwest Power Pool regional energy market, and the increasing amount of wind generation in the area, provide operational challenges that can be better managed with this flexible resource,” Lehman added.
The expansion added three new natural gas-fueled generators, bringing the Center’s total to twelve units. Each generator can operate independently or as part of a group, and can be started in a matter of minutes to ensure a constant supply of power to the grid. The twelve engines combined produce 102 megawatts, enough to serve almost a third of Midwest Energy customers’ peak electric use.
Burns and McDonnell of Kansas City, Mo., provided engineering and general contractor services for the project, while Casey Industrial of Westminster, Colo. was the primary construction sub-contractor. The generators were manufactured in Europe by Finnish engine maker Wärtsilä.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Latest on wildfires burning in Kansas and Oklahoma …all times local):
4:50 p.m.
Kansas authorities say wildfires in several Kansas counties have been largely contained.
The Kansas Adjutant General’s office said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the fires in the northeast Kansas counties of Wabaunsee, Geary, Riley and Pottawatomie are for the most part contained. The office says crews continue to monitor small smoldering patches in the region.
The office also says a grass fire in Morton County in southwest Kansas has been contained with the exception of hot spots.
The grassfire in northern Oklahoma is also no longer threatening Comanche County, Kansas.
The adjutant general’s office also says the State Emergency Operations Center in Topeka has returned to normal operations but is maintaining contact with local officials in the affected counties.
11:45 a.m.
More than 18 square miles of rangeland has burned in the latest Kansas wildfires.
Ben Bauman, spokesman for the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office, says two homes, one mobile home and at least eight outbuildings were destroyed Tuesday. Residents of several rural communities were urged to leave their homes before the blazes were brought mostly under control.
No injuries have been reported.
In northern Kansas, fires burned about 6,000 acres in Geary County, about 600 acres in Wabaunsee County and more than 1,500 acres in Riley County. Another 3,800 acres burned in Morton County in extreme southwest Kansas.
The blazes come less than a month after a fire that started in Oklahoma and spread into Kansas, burning hundreds of square miles. Most of the damage was in Kansas’ Barber County.
9 a.m.
photo by Garry Berges, Geary Co Emergency Manager
Crews are fighting wildfires in northern Kansas, where forecasters are warning of dangerous fire conditions.
Riley County emergency management director Pat Collins says embers from an approximately 300-acre fire started by fence welders destroyed a mobile home. Collins says crews are also battling a 1,000-acre blaze and a third fire that has burned several hundred acres elsewhere in Riley County.
In nearby Geary County, a fire that burned 6,000 acres of mostly pastureland Tuesday is under control. Assistant Geary County emergency manager Curt Janke says no homes burned.
Crews also have been fighting wildfires in Morton County in the southwest of the state and Wabaunsee County in the north, while keeping an eye on a large Oklahoma blaze to make sure it doesn’t cross into Kansas.
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RILEY COUNTY -The fire outbreak in Northeast Kansas has been largely contained, according to local officials.
Wabaunsee County authorities report approximately 600 acres were burned near the town of Alma. The fire is 75 percent contained as of 10 p.m.
Local fire officials have released the mutual aid responders from nearby counties and continue to monitor flare-ups. One house and one outbuilding are reported destroyed.
Riley County officials report 400-500 acres burned in the vicinity of Marlatt and U.S. 24, where approximately 100-150 residents were evacuated from a mobile home park. One mobile home was destroyed by fire. A shelter was opened in Cico Park in Manhattan.
Geary County officials report approximately 6,000 acres burned. The fire is 95 percent contained. No structures were lost.
A large grassfire destroyed one home and seven to eight outbuildings in the community of Wilburton in Morton County. The fire burned approximately 3,800 acres and is 95 percent contained.
Due to a shift in prevailing winds, a grassfire in Oklahoma is no longer threatening Comanche County, Kansas.
Six wildfires occurred in Pottawatomie County, burning an unknown amount of acreage. One garage was damaged, but officials are not certain the damage was related to the wildfire.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man convicted of killing abortion provider George Tiller may have more leeway at his resentencing in Kansas to argue before a new jury that he was acting in defense of others.
Scott Roeder’s life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years was among many vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that juries, not judges, must decide whether aggravating circumstances existed to warrant increasing the punishment.
Sedgwick County Judge Warren Wilbert said Wednesday consideration of mitigating factors for lesser sentences could allow such evidence.
Wilbert also said Tiller did not live to see another day, prompting an outburst from Roeder.
Roeder was convicted of first-degree murder in the May 2009 death of Tiller.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man convicted of killing abortion provider George Tiller is in a Kansas court for arguments over resentencing issues.
Scott Roeder’s life sentence with no chance of parole for 50 years was among many vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that juries, not judges, must decide whether aggravating circumstances existed to warrant increasing the punishment above mandatory minimum sentences.
Wednesday’s hearing is expected to take up a number of routine issues, such as jury questionnaires, aggravating factors and other motions.
Roeder was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Tiller, who was shot in a church on May 31, 2009. He testified he shot Tiller because other attempts to stop him from performing abortions had failed. Roeder also was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault.
Dr. Biden meeting with students on Wednesday photos USD 475
FORT RILEY -Dr. Jill Biden visited teachers and students at Fort Riley Middle School on Wednesday.
The second-lady of the United States is in Kanas to celebrate the Month of the Military Child and as part of her Joining Forces initiative.
Biden said she knows who has been in the military in her classrooms.
“And so I ask that at the beginning of every semester. I find that they bring such rich experiences to what I’m teaching.”
Biden explained as a grandmother she also saw the things that impacted her grandchildren.
She noted that she and Michelle Obama made that one of their pillars of the Joining Forces Initiative. “Education, what could we do in the space of education to make things better for military families. So the fact that you signed on, and all of you are so invested in this means so much to our military.”
During her visit to Fort Riley Middle School Biden toured classrooms and met with students and teachers. She participated in discussions with both the student teachers and students in the school’s media center. Biden also met school officials and community leaders during her time at the school.
Dr. Biden is a lifelong educator and military mom. She is participating in several events in support of military children’s education.
She is meeting with active duty service members, military spouses and military-connected students and their teachers.
During the visit she highlighted the educational partnership between Fort Riley and Kansas State University as part of Operation Educate the Educators—an effort Dr. Biden launched through her Joining Forces initiative to train teachers to recognize the unique needs of military-connected students in their classrooms.
You may have heard that the Clean Power Plan is on hold, and that the final decision may not come out until the beginning of 2017. But that has not stopped CEP from continuing the conversation and educational initiatives on the future of energy in Kansas.
In the last month CEP led six interactive workshops on the Clean Power Plan. The workshops consisted of informational component about the CPP as well as an interactive portion during which the attendees brainstormed the ways health, energy sources, pollution, and climate change are interconnected.
Some common feedback we have heard during those events is that “we are preaching to the choir” the people in the room are usually the ones who are already engaged and informed. Are we all taking in silos to the same people about the same environmental issues, echoing each other’s thoughts? And if so, how do we expand those conversations to be more “mainstream”?
How do we talk about energy usage and sources, pollution, and climate change the same way we check up on each-other’s health? Those topics are all connected: energy sources emitting air pollution contribute to respiratory diseases and heart attacks. But rarely do we take the time to get to the contributing causes of the mentioned health problems. Imagine if we discussed and planned our energy future the same way we plan and talk about our retirement – both personally affect our wallets, our environment, and quality of life. Why be passive about planning one while actively engaging in the other? Perhaps we have too many everyday worries as is and adding another issue on top of everyday struggles can seem overwhelming. But if cleaner energy can improve our health and save us on electricity costs, maybe it is worth our time.
The good news is that discussing energy issues can lead to collaboration and solutions! When knowledgeable consumers start demanding affordable, abundant, sustainable and accessible energy we can look for win-win solutions together and not have to wait for federal regulations such as the Clean Power Plan to make the changes we want to see in our energy future.
Olga Khakova is the CEP Program Director. The Climate + Energy Project (CEP) is a non-partisan 501c(3) organization working to reduce emissions through greater energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. Located in Hutchinson, CEP collaborates with diverse partners across the nation to find practical solutions for a clean energy future that provides jobs, prosperity and energy security.
SHAWNEE COUNTY- A Kansas man was critically injured in an accident just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday in Shawnee County.
