ELLSWORTH COUNTY – A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just after 10a.m. on Thursday in Ellsworth County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Ford F250 driven by Tanner G. Kanackstedt, 17, Inman, was southbound on Kansas 141 just north of Kansas 4 attempting to pass.
The rear passenger side of the Ford struck the front of a southbound Freightliner semi driven by Terry K. Fleming, 64, Junction City, that was attempting to turn east onto Langley Point Road.
A passenger in the Ford Greyson W. Wood, 19, Inman, was transported to Salina Regional Medical Center.
Knackstedt, Fleming and another passenger in the Ford were not injured.
All were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to KHP.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas couple faces upgraded murder charges in the death of the man’s missing 7-year-old son.
Online court records show Wyandotte County prosecutors have charged Michael A. Jones and Heather Jones with premeditated first-degree murder and felony child abuse. They were previously charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse.
The premeditated first-degree murder charge carries a possible life sentence without parole for 50 years.
Police found juvenile remains at the couple’s Kansas City, Kansas, home in November while investigating a domestic disturbance. Authorities haven’t said if the remains were those of Jones’ missing son.
Heather Jones
A preliminary hearing for Michael Jones is scheduled for April 8. Records show Heather Jones’ preliminary hearing has been canceled while she undergoes a mental evaluation.
Their lawyers didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.
GEARY COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities in Geary County are investigating a suspect connection alleged possession and distribution of child pornography.
On Thursday morning, the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Junction City and Wichita Police Departments served a search warrant at 1412 West 11th Street in Junction City, according to Detective Lieutenant Jeff Childs.
Dale Alan Holvorson, 49, Junction City was arrested on suspicion of 14 counts of Distribution of Child Pornography and 20 counts of Possession of Child Pornography.
“During the police department investigation Mr. Holvorson was found to be in possession of child pornography and believed to have distributed child pornography in about 20 accounts,” said Childs.
Childs said the JCPD had investigated the case for approximately two weeks, but how long the illegal acts had been occurring authorities are unsure of at this time.
He noted that Holvorson does have a previous conviction on similar charges in Sedgwick County, and is currently on probation in that case.
No more arrests are expected in the Junction City case.
Holvorson is expected to have a first appearance in Geary County District Court on Friday.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee has approved a bill to redistribute some of the state’s education funding dollars in response to a court order to help poor school districts.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee’s voice vote Thursday sent a plan from Chairman Ty Masterson to the full chamber for debate.
The measure redistributes $38 million of the more than $4 billion in annual aid to public schools to benefit poor districts.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last month that the state has been shorting poor districts on aid. Masterson’s plan would increase state aid for 100 districts and reduce it for 186.
The Senate panel’s vote came after criticism from House Appropriations Committee members forced Chairman Ron Ryckman Jr. to abandon a milder version of the same plan.
Cowley College and Fort Hays State University are entering a partnership that will guarantee scholarships for Cowley College graduates who have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and who transfer to Fort Hays State after graduating from Cowley College.
To symbolize this partnership, the senior leadership, including Dr. Mirta M. Martin, FHSU president, will travel to Cowley for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the schools.
Faculty, staff, students and community members are invited to attend the signing, which will take place at 3 p.m. Monday, March 28, at the Calder-Bonfy Amphitheatre located on Cowley College’s main campus in Arkansas City. In the event of inclement weather, the event will be held in the Atrium inside the Brown Center.
The 2+2 agreement is being called Tiger2Tiger Pathway. The name is a good fit because the athletic teams of both Cowley College and Fort Hays State compete as “Tigers.” An effort will be made to refine and further develop additional 2+2 agreements between the institutions with the goal of a seamless transfer of credit so that entire two-year degree programs of study transfer to a comparable four-year degree program of study.
At the conclusion of the signing, a reception will follow in the Earle N. Wright Community Room. Light refreshments and music will be provided.
SALINA- Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investing a suspect in connection with a stolen car.
Salina Police have arrested a woman in connection with a vehicle theft that occurred in February.
Jessica Smith, 29, Salina, was arrested Wednesday, according to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney.
On February 28, police were sent to the Airliner Motel, 781 Broadway, after a pizza delivery driver reported the orange Chevy Cobalt, left running and unattended, was stolen.
The responding officer saw the vehicle in the 900 Block of West Grand Avenue.
Smith was also seen in the area near the vehicle, and when officers questioned her, she provided a false name, according to police.
They found Smith at the Airliner Motel on Wednesday morning and also discovered marijuana and methamphetamine in her motel room.
She was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges of felony theft, felony interference with a law enforcement officer, possession of marijuana, possession of methamphetamine with the intent to sell, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Kansas Department of Transportation expresses its appreciation for employees celebrating state years-of-service anniversaries in April.
KDOT is proud to acknowledge them for the long-term dedication they have provided to the state of Kansas.
Michael Baker, Equipment Operator, Kansas City, is celebrating 30 years of service.
Those celebrating 20 years of service include: Ronald Feldkamp, Land Surveyor I, Seneca; Danny Parks, Equipment Operator Senior, Sharon Springs; and David Pillar, Equipment Operator, Columbus.
Those celebrating 10 years of service include: Timothy Frederiksen, Equipment Operator Senior, Salina; Roy Junkersfeld, Equipment Operator Senior, Eureka; Otto Koerner Jr., Equipment Operator, Wichita; William Vesecky, Highway Shop Superintendent, Baldwin City; Roland Washburn, Equipment Operator, Norton; and Daniel Zordel, Equipment Operator Senior, Hays.
Hays radio station 98.5 The TRUTH is hosting a free screening of the film“Do You Believe?” tomorrow, Friday March 18, at 7:05 p.m. at Celebration Community Church, 5790 230th Ave.
“Do You Believe?” is the latest movie from the producers of “God’s Not Dead”.
“Do You Believe?” tells the story of a dozen different souls–all moving in different directions, all longing for something more, and as their lives unexpectedly intersect, they each are about to discover there is power in the cross of Christ.
It stars Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino, “Rudy’s” Sean Astin and a host of other familiar Hollywood faces.
The movie is the latest in Celebration Community Church’s Free Friday Family Flix. Admission and refreshments are free and every viewer will receive a free gift for attending.
Fort Hays State Softball has made an adjustment to its schedule due to the forecasted weather for Friday in the Hays area. FHSU will still play doubleheaders against Lindenwood and Lincoln, but the games are now scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
The doubleheader with Lindenwood remains the same, a 1 pm start on Saturday at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers were originally scheduled to play Lincoln on Friday, but that doubleheader has now moved to Sunday, also a 1 pm start.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has set a May trial date for the woman accused of giving her former boyfriend the guns used in last month’s mass shooting at a Kansas lawn equipment factory.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren issued on Thursday a scheduling order in the case of 28-year-old Sarah Jo Hopkins, setting May 3 for her trial. The Newton woman has pleaded not guilty to transferring weapons to a prohibited person.
Prosecutors say she gave Cedric Ford an AK-47-type semi-automatic rifle and a .40-caliber handgun that he used in the Feb. 25 attack at Excel Industries in Hesston. Four people, including Ford, were killed and 14 others were injured.
Hopkins has told investigators that she gave him the guns because he had threatened her. They had two children together.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Merrick County Sheriff’s Department says that it is seeking information about 150 to 200 dead geese illegally dumped in a ditch.
A deputy was alerted by a citizen about the geese Monday afternoon. Sheriff John Westman said the geese were found about 2 miles east of Gunbarrel Road and had not been cleaned.
Westman says the animals were disposed of sometime between 6:30 p.m. Sunday and 1 p.m. Monday.
Authorities say there are no suspects in the case at this time and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has been contacted.
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — Expert witnesses in the capital murder trial of an eastern Kansan man are testifying about how three adults and a toddler died.
A forensic pathologist who performed the autopsies and a forensic entomology expert who examined maggots were among the witnesses called this week to testify in the trial of Kyle Flack.
The 30-year-old Ottawa man is charged with capital murder in the deaths of 21-year-old Kaylie Bailey and her 18-month-old daughter, Lana, in spring 2013. He also is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shotgun deaths of 30-year-old Andrew Stout and 31-year-old Steven White.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the adults suffered shotgun wounds and were left under either a tarp or mound of clothes. Lana’s body was found in a rural Osage County creek.
WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), member of the Senate Commerce Committee, received unanimous support Wednesday of an amendment he offered during a Senate Commerce Committee Hearing markup of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill to require TSA screening at small airports.
Moran talked about the situation at the Salina Regional Airport as an example of the need.
The Moran amendment reflects the text of the TSA Fairness Act (S. 2549) – bipartisan Senate legislation introduced last month. This amendment would require the TSA to provide security screening services – one of the agency’s core responsibilities – at any U.S. airport that has been without commercial service since 2013 but has since received a commitment from a commercial air carrier to resume service.
On April 1, 2016, Great Lakes Airlines will begin 12 weekly nonstop round trips from Salina Regional Airport (KSLN) to Denver International Airport (DIA). However, last month TSA rejected the Salina Airport Authority’s written request for federalized security screening. Based on the 30-seat aircraft Great Lakes will use to service this route, among other factors, KSLN estimates between 18,000 to 20,000 passengers will fly this route annually, often connecting in Denver to flights around the country. But without TSA screening services at KSLN, passengers from Salina would not enjoy secure and efficient access to DIA’s main terminal, where after finally passing through TSA’s security checkpoint many would fail to reach their connections in time.
The FAA Reauthorization bill (S. 2658) is expected to be brought to the full Senate for consideration in April and reauthorizes the FAA through September 2017.
Highlights from Sen. Moran’s remarks may be found below, along with links to the video:
“In recent times, a number of airlines have reduced their service in many instances claiming a pilot shortage, an inability to maintain satisfactory service and from time to time, as has happened in…Salina, that air carrier has withdrawn service, leaving the community without air service.
“Here’s the new challenge: the TSA that was there previously screening passengers for the service that was commercially available has declined to return to the community to provide passenger screening because of the gap in service. So this amendment…would require the TSA to provide screening services so that…commercial service can occur, so that passengers who fly on regional aircraft originating from small communities across the country still have the benefit of the safety that is provided by passenger screening.
“As…rural America… struggle[s] to maintain commercial service, if we are successful in returning commercial service only to find the TSA no longer is willing to provide the service, it will have been a false victory and that commercial service will once again disappear.”
ELLSWORTH COUNTY – A Kansas teen was injured in an accident just after 10a.m. on Thursday in Ellsworth County.
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Office of Sen. Moran