A suspect wanted for several robberies has died following an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City -photo courtesy KCTV5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Missouri, say an officer shot and killed a robbery suspect after the man reached for his gun.
The Kansas City Star reports that police said the shooting occurred Wednesday after narcotics officers pulled over a driver as part of a planned arrest. The man who was shot was a suspect in several robberies and told police he was armed and ready for a shootout with officers if they tried to arrest him.
Police said an officer shot the man as the man reached for a gun while officers were trying to remove him from the car. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died. His identity wasn’t released.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker was at the scene to oversee the investigation.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Funeral services were held for a 27-year-old Wichita woman slain earlier this month before her newborn was kidnapped.
Laura Abarca-Nogueda of Wichita was shot and killed Nov. 17 in her apartment in west Wichita. Her then 6-day-old daughter was kidnapped and later found safe in Dallas and reunited with her family.
The Wichita Eagle reports that about 150 people attended Abarca-Nogueda’s funeral, which was conducted in English and Spanish on Wednesday.
Authorities have arrested Yesenia Sesmas in Texas in connection with the death and kidnapping. The 34-year-old Mexican national is fighting extradition back to Kansas. The complaint detailing the charges against Sesmas won’t be revealed until she appears in court.
Trump met on Nov. 20 with Kobach at Trump’s New Jersey golf course. photo courtesy Fox
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is supporting President-elect Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that he would have won the popular vote if “millions” of people hadn’t voted illegally.
Kobach offered no evidence Wednesday of specific cases of election fraud this year.
Instead, he cited a large-scale study of the 2008 election to suggest several million non-citizens living in the U.S. could have voted illegally. He also argued that the overwhelming majority also would have supported Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The study Kobach cited surveyed nearly 33,000 people, including a small number of non-citizens who said they voted. But the conclusion that it shows significant illegal voting has been disputed.
An American Civil Liberties Union spokeswoman called Kobach’s assertion “plainly false.”
Kobach is a potential Trump nominee for U.S. homeland security secretary.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have charged two people in the death of a 4-year-old Kansas girl.
The Kansas City, Kansas, police department said in a release that 28-year-old Devondre Sanders and 23-year-old Sierra Mitchell are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Honesty Sanders, who was found unconscious in a Kansas City, Kansas, apartment on May 27. She died about a week later at a hospital.
Her death was recently ruled a homicide.
Police say the two defendants turned themselves in at the Wyandotte County Detention Center. The Kansas City Star reports Mitchell was booked into jail late Tuesday night, and Sanders was booked early Wednesday.
Sanders-photo Wyandotte Co.
It’s unclear if either Sanders or Mitchell has a lawyer. They’re being held on $500,000 bond.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A noted professor with autism whose work to understand livestock was the subject of an HBO movie has spoken at a lecture at Kansas State University. Watch her lecture here.
Temple Grandin spoke Tuesday as part of the university’s Landon Lecture series, named after former Kansas Gov. Alf Landon.
Grandin, who showed signs of autism at an early age, spoke about her visual thinking process and how it helped her create cattle handling facilities. Grandin stressed hands-on learning and encouraged teachers attending the lecture to build on the strengths of students with different learning styles.
Grandin is a livestock equipment designer and animal welfare advocate, as well as the author of several books.
An HBO biopic, “Temple Grandin,” starred Claire Danes and won five Primetime Emmys.
The Fort Hays State University Alumni Association is sponsoring a send-off for the FHSU football team Thursday, Dec. 1, when the Tigers leave town for the C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl.
The Tiger team will board buses at noon for the trip to Copperas Cove, Texas. FHSU staff, students and faculty, along with the general public, are invited to wish the team well as it heads into its second consecutive bowl game.
Fans are asked to meet at 11:45 a.m. just outside Lewis Field Stadium.
The Tigers take a 7-4 overall record into Saturday’s 6 p.m. game vs. Eastern New Mexico University. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 (WatchESPN or ESPN apps), or fans can listen to the game on KJLS (FM) 103.3.
FHSU is looking to become the first team in Tiger football history to win a postseason game. A win over ENMU also would tie the school record for most wins in a season.
KINGMAN COUNTY – A Kansas girl was injured in an accident just before 8a.m. on Wednesday in Kingman County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Ford F250 pickup driven by Ashley Marie Boucher, 32, Derby, was eastbound on SE 10th Street three miles west of Cheney.
The driver attempted to pass another vehicle. She lost of control of pickup. It overturned in the north ditch.
A passenger in the pickup Kyra Boucher, 7, Derby, was transported to Wesley Medical Center.
The driver and five other children were not transported for treatment but possibly injured, according to the KHP.
Only three occupants of the vehicle were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
Location of the shooting Lost Sock II Laundromat, 1902 E. Pawnee in Wichita-google image
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy is accused of playing a role in the shooting death of a teenager last week outside a laundromat in Wichita.
Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon tells The Wichita Eagle the suspect is charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder, attempted aggravated robbery, and misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Police say they also have arrested another suspect and are searching for a third person for questioning in last Thursday’s death of 15-year-old Jimmy Shopteese.
Police say the suspects met Shopteese and a 13-year-old boy in the laundromat’s parking lot early on Thanksgiving Day for what appeared to be a drug deal. During the transaction that police say involved marijuana, Shopteese was shot in the back. He later died at a hospital.
PRATT COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Pratt County continue to investigate a Friday November 25 robbery.
Deputies say they have reason to believe the victim was targeted while shopping and a vehicle followed them out of town. The two individuals the sheriff’s department is asking for help in identifying are persons of interest at this time, according to a media release.
On Wednesday, the sheriff released a surveillance photo of the vehicle believed involved in the robbery.
Deputies reported just after 8 p.m. a family was driving on U.S. 281 approximately 11 miles north of Pratt when another vehicle passed them and then slowed in their lane of travel and stopped.
Two men got out of a dark gray small SUV and approached the driver. One of the men produced a handgun, broke out the driver’s side window of the family’s vehicle and demanded money.
The driver handed over his billfold and, at that time, was hit in the head with the handgun. The two suspects got into their vehicle and fled north on U.S. 281.
Late Monday, Pratt County Sheriff officials were able to determine one round was fired at the vehicle during that robbery.
A shell casing and bullet were recovered, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies are also following leads trying to identify the suspect vehicle, a small gray SUV and the two suspects in it.
They say It’s very possible someone drove by going south during this robbery.
Anyone traveling on U.S. 281 Highway on the night of Nov. 25 during this time is asked to call the Pratt County Sheriff’s Office if they saw anything concerning two vehicle which would have been stopped in the northbound lanes.
The location of Ellis County Emergency Services changed late last year in Hays and now the city will update the Emergency Snow Routes map to reflect that move.
“It’s something we do every couple of years, look at the emergency snow routes to see if they’re where they need to be,” said Assistant Hays City Manager Jacob Woods.
“The ambulances are in a different place so we’re updating the emergency snow routes. The streets around the emergency services facility are now part of the emergency snow routes, which they weren’t before,” Woods said, calling it “a minor change. We took away a couple of streets and added a couple of streets.”
The move wasn’t far for Emergency Medical Services–a little more than a block from 1009 Cody Ave. to the new building at 1105 E. 22nd, where the ambulances are now housed.
Ellis County Rural Fire Department Company 5 had further to go with its trucks, from 1208 Cedar St. to the more central location.
“Anyone who lives along an Emergency Snow Route can’t park their vehicles on the street if there’s a snow storm. Those are the routes that we clear first so emergency vehicles, police vehicles, can get anywhere in the community,” Woods explained.
City commissioners will review the map changes during their work session tomorrow evening.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fort Hays State volleyball senior Crystal Whittenhas been named to the AVCA All-Central Region team, announced Wednesday (Nov. 30) by the organization. Whitten is the first Tiger to earn All-Region honors since 2005 (Kelly Skidmore).
The outside hitter was one of seven MIAA student-athletes listed on the 14-player team. Nebraska-Kearney had three players honored, with Washburn earning two spots on the team and Central Oklahoma with one.
Whitten wrapped up an impressive career with 491 kills this season, leading the MIAA and ranking 22nd in the country with 4.13 kills per set. She also led the team with 395 digs and 25 service aces, leading the Tigers in all three categories for the second-straight season. Her 491 kills rank fifth in a single season during the rally scoring era at FHSU, while her 4.13 kills per frame is sixth-best in the program’s NCAA Division II history.
The Wichita, Kan. native matched her career-high with 23 kills against Central Oklahoma (Oct. 14), tying the school’s rally scoring era record with 76 attack attempts.
Whitten recorded 1,507 kills and 1,266 digs in her four-year collegiate career, split between Pittsburg State and FHSU. She nearly reached 1,000 kills in just two seasons as a Tiger, recording 911 kills over the last two seasons. She averaged 3.76 kills per set in 68 matches for FHSU, third-best in the program’s NCAA Division II history. She also ranks seventh in DII program history with 3.44 digs per set.
LENEXA – EPA Region 7 has reached a proposed administrative settlement with Union Pacific Railroad Company to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) at its Herington Kansas Rail yard, according to a media release.
As part of the settlement, the company has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $24,000 and complete a Supplemental Environmental Project valued at $338,100.
In January 2012, two railroad tank cars at the Herington facility collided, leading to the release of 11,000 gallons of sulfuric acid.
About 1,500 gallons were contained in a ditch, but the remainder flowed through an adjoining ditch and discharged into Lime Creek. The discharge impacted an estimated two miles of Lime Creek and resulted in a fish kill.
In addition to the civil penalty, Union Pacific will be required to complete a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) to install earthen berms, flow barriers, and manually-operated drop gates that will seek to minimize runoff and releases from reaching Lime Creek. A SEP is intended to be a project that produces environmental or public health and safety benefits, earning partial credit by EPA to offset the cost of the penalty. This project is estimated to cost $338,100.
Union Pacific also paid $155,300 to the state of Kansas in restitution for damage to the state’s natural resources in August 2013.
The proposed settlement with Union Pacific is subject to a 40-day public comment period before it becomes final.
Playing collegiate sports takes a high level of determination and commitment. Something that both Jonathan Springer and Rachel Taylor are ready for, following the signing of their respective National Letter of Intent.
Wednesday, Jonathan Springer committed to stay in Hays and wrestle for Fort Hays State University. The senior who is expected to compete at 182 pounds this season, said that he has been focusing on building his strength over the past year in order to have a more successful final high school season. Staying in Hays was also a bonus so he can wrestle where his family can still see him. Springer said he spent time around some of the Fort Hays State wrestlers making the decision a comfortable one.
Jonathan Springer
Coach John Hafliger
Rachel Taylor signed to play volleyball at Dodge City Community College next school year. Coach Christin Nunnery noted that Taylor may have exhibited the great amount of improvement from one season to the next when talking about what Taylor had done to reach the next level. Taylor spent time as a reserve as a junior behind a senior class that sent several onto the collegiate level to play volleyball. Taylor seized the opportunity to be on the floor as a senior and found her way to Dodge City Community College after spending time with their coaching staff where she found a comfort level compared to other schools.
