LEAVENWORTH COUNTY – A Kansas woman and three children were injured in an accident just after 2p.m. Saturday in Leavenworth County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Toyota van driven by Daffny S. Atwell, 27, Leavenworth was southbound on County Road 5 two miles north of Tonganoxie.

The van left the roadway on the right shoulder, re-entered the roadway crossed both lanes of traffic, entered the northbound ditch and overturned.

Atwell and passengers Marshall Atwell, 1; Jackson Atwell, 6; Nathaniel Atwell, 8, all of Leavenworth were transported to KU Medical Center.

All four were properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.

RILEY COUNTY- The suspect wanted in connection with a shooting death in Manhattan is now in the Riley County Jail.

On Friday afternoon 38-year-old Steven Harris was booked into the Riley County jail, according to the county booking report.

On Thursday night, Law enforcement authorities in Wichita arrested Harris after receiving information that a vehicle matching the description in connection with the crime was at a Motel 6 on E. Kellogg Dr. in Wichita, according to police.

WPD responded to the scene and were able to determine the vehicle was a match. WPD officers then made contact with Harris.

He and 37-year-old Cora Brown, who was also at the Motel 6, were arrested without incident.

Harris was arrested on a Riley County District Court warrant for 1st degree murder and attempted 1stdegree murder. Harris’ bond remains at $2,000,000.00.

Police arrested Cora Brown on a Riley County District Court warrant for possession of methamphetamine.

Brown’s bond was set at $20,000.00. She is no longer in custody, according to police.

Just before 6p.m. on Sunday May 21, police received several 911 calls stating there had been a shooting on Nelson’s Landing in Manhattan, according to a media release.

When officers arrived on scene to the 2800 block of Nelson’s Landing, they found one man, identified as German Gonzalez-Garcia, 39, of Manhattan, dead from gunshot wounds.

A second man was found on scene, also suffering from gunshot wounds. He was lifeflighted to Stormont Vail in Topeka in critical condition.

On Monday, police issued a warrant for Harris in connection with the shooting.

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — Authorities in southern Kansas’ Butler County say the body of an 82-year-old man who went missing in the Walnut River has been found.

Sheriff’s officials say Ramon Criss was found dead Saturday morning about a half mile from where the tractor he was riding was overturned on a low-water bridge he had been trying to clear of debris.

The search for Criss had begun about 2 p.m. Friday.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

By MEG WINGERTER

A new law will allow Kansas crisis centers to treat involuntary mental health patients for up to 72 hours, but it isn’t clear if lawmakers will fund it.

Gov. Sam Brownback on Wednesday signed House Bill 2053, which allows crisis centers to treat people deemed a danger to themselves or others because of a mental health or substance use disorder. The bill had passed the House unanimously and passed the Senate 27-12 after some amendments.

Lawmakers didn’t allocate funding for additional crisis center beds before they left for the Memorial Day weekend, although they have yet to finalize a budget.

Kansas currently has three crisis centers — in Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka — which only take patients who agree to treatment.

Bill Persinger, CEO of Valeo Behavioral Health Care in Topeka, said employees there are looking into what changes might be needed to serve involuntary patients.

Valeo has a crisis center for voluntary patients that occasionally houses people waiting for a bed at Osawatomie State Hospital. He estimated the voluntary facility had reduced the number of Shawnee County residents sent to the state hospital by half.

“I think we’re going to have good capacity to provide services on a short-term involuntary basis,” he said.

Persinger said he hopes mental health centers can qualify for grants to prepare for involuntary patients. It could cost Valeo hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a prescriber available at all times, hire security staff, increase its mental health staff and renovate the building to offer more security and privacy, he said.

“It’s not something we can start doing tomorrow,” he said.

Marilyn Cook, CEO of Comcare in Wichita, said many mental health patients could avoid the state hospital or jail if more local treatment options were available, but the state needs to add funding for those programs. She estimated about half of the voluntary patients who use Comcare’s crisis center don’t have insurance.

“We would have to have medical staff there 24 hours, which is an expenditure, and we would have to have some funds for medication for people who are uninsured,” she said. “We have a sustainability problem right now.”

Cook and Persinger said they hope the Legislature will pass a bill that would give some funds from lottery ticket vending machines to crisis centers, but they don’t expect it would generate enough to cover all their costs.

A similar bill considered in 2016 to allow involuntary treatment raised concerns about violating the rights of people with mental illnesses.  A committee of mental health advocates, treatment providers, law enforcement officers and others met between the sessions to come up with a compromise to provide treatment while protecting individuals’ rights.

Cook said allowing crisis centers to treat involuntary patients has been shown to reduce hospitalizations in other states. Patients who come to Comcare voluntarily often calm down within a few hours because they are in a quiet environment with staff available to help, she said.

“I know it can work because it works now,” she said.

Meg Wingerter is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of  kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @MegWingerter