A Trego County man was critically injured when the Chevy S10 pickup he was driving collided with a semi at 210th and Noose Road at 10:28 a.m. Wednesday.
The jaws of life had to be used to extricate the man from the pickup. The man was taken to HaysMed and was set to be sent via air ambulance to Wichita. The driver of the semi reported minor injuries.
Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin said the semi had a stop sign, but the accident is still being investigated and no citations have been issued.
No names have been released pending the notification of family members.
Sheriff’s personnel, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper, Ellis County EMS and Rural Fire all responded to the accident. In addition, an off-duty Hays firefighter came upon the accident and helped at the scene until EMS arrived.
A fresh legal challenge to the state’s 2014 elimination of teacher job protections has reached the Kansas Supreme Court, close on the heels of a separate lawsuit that proved unsuccessful six months ago.
At stake are due process rights for thousands — or even tens of thousands — of teachers who had earned them before the Republican-led Legislature passed and Gov. Sam Brownback signed the repeal.
A fresh legal challenge to the state’s 2014 elimination of teacher job protections has reached the Kansas Supreme Court. At stake are due process rights for thousands of teachers who had earned them before the Republican-led Legislature passed and Gov. Sam Brownback signed the repeal. CREDIT FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
In name, the case is a battle between the school board of a 270-student district in rural Butler County, east of Wichita, and two teachers dismissed from their jobs in 2015.
At its heart, however, the case is a showdown between the state’s main teachers union and the state itself. The Kansas National Education Association is representing the plaintiffs, Sallie Scribner and Mark McNemee. Attorneys for Kansas have filed a brief intervening on the side of Flinthills Unified School District 492.
“We’re here really to protect the constitutional concept that the law matters and process matters,” KNEA general counsel David Schauner said Monday, “and the Legislature isn’t free to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, without recourse.”
The KNEA argues that taking tenure away from teachers who had already earned it was equivalent to depriving citizens of their property without due process — a violation of the U.S. and Kansas constitutions.
The state rejects that characterization and says teachers never had a constitutionally protected right to keep their job protections. And even if a property right did exist, it argues, the Legislature’s vote to repeal tenure was sufficient to end it.
The repeal was “clearly constitutional,” the state’s brief argues.
“Plaintiffs may disagree with the policy the Legislature adopted,” it says, “but the law does not violate the Due Process Clause.”
The parties finished filing briefs in late June. The KNEA predicted this week that oral arguments, which haven’t yet been scheduled, will take place in September at the earliest.
Scribner had worked at Flinthills for 18 years and McNemee for 16.
At the end of the 2014-15 school year, the Flinthills school board informed both in writing that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed, without stating reasons or allowing independent hearings.
Prior to July 1, 2014, the board would have been required to take those steps, but it argues Scribner and McNemee no longer had tenure in light of the 2014 repeal.
A third teacher, Monica Pharr, lost her job at Kansas City Kansas USD 500 in the same manner and sued in Wyandotte County, also with representation by the KNEA. The district court stopped that suit this month, pending the outcome of the Flinthills case at the high court.
The Flinthills case could restore due process for all teachers who had earned tenure before the repeal and haven’t switched employers since then. Under the law as it previously existed, teachers needed to complete three-year probationary periods at their districts before reaching what was formally called “non-probationary status.” This guaranteed them due process in case of termination or contract non-renewal.
The KNEA does not have a reliable count of how many of Kansas’ approximately 40,000 public school educators would regain tenure if the Kansas Supreme Court sides with the union. Schauner said more than 20,000 or 25,000 teachers “would not be at all surprising.”
The 2014 changes
The Legislature ended tenure in 2014 amid protests at the Statehouse by hundreds of red-clad teachers from across the state.
The Kansas Supreme Court had ordered lawmakers to increase funding for poorer school districts — part of a long-running and still ongoing school finance lawsuit.
The Legislature, controlled at the time by conservative Republicans, complied with a funding increase but included a tenure repeal. The process angered opponents because it involved late-in-the-night votes, and because the topic surfaced through an amendment on the Senate floor without hearings in either chamber.
The KNEA sued that summer, contending lawmakers had violated a Kansas Constitution clause that bars cramming unrelated matters into a single bill.
It lost at the district court and appealed. In January the Kansas Supreme Court ruled the 2014 legislation hadn’t run afoul of the restriction.
The claim in the new lawsuit — that the state unconstitutionally stripped tenured teachers of their property — bears similarities to an argument that another branch of the National Education Association made in North Carolina after that state ended tenure in 2013.
The idea that a property right had been violated resonated with North Carolina’s Court of Appeals. But the state’s Supreme Court ultimately struck down the retroactive tenure repeal without weighing in on the property argument. Instead, it found the law had violated contractual obligations.
The property rights argument was not successful at Butler County District Court, prompting the KNEA to appeal.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
Larry Henry Wilkerson passed away on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 in Maricopa, Arizona at the age of 77. He was born on January 27, 1940 in Lorraine, Kansas to the late Earl O. and Adelaide (Hertlein) Wilkerson. On August 6, 1960 he was united in marriage to Beverly Bollig at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Plainville, Kansas. They were blessed with four children, Larry, Jr., Billy, Sandra Kay, and Robert.
In addition to being a husband and father, Larry spent most of his life working for several local well services, and then as a self-employed truck driver, until his retirement in February of 2017. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was an avid reader and enjoyed camping and working in his garden. He had a great sense of humor and never passed up an opportunity to make someone smile. He delighted in seeing his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Larry had a very strong relationship with God and was clearly at peace with him.
Larry is survived by his sons Larry Wilkerson, Jr. of Harker Heights, TX, William “Billy” Wilkerson of Zurich, and Robert Wilkerson and wife Paula of Maricopa, AZ; daughter Sandra Kay Goings and husband Robert of Bellefontaine, OH; brother James Wilkerson and wife Rachael; sisters Charlene Jones, and Linda Robbins and husband Gerald; brother-in-law Jack Graves; sisters-in-law Carolyn Wilkerson and Cheryl Dedrickson; nine grandchildren; fourteen great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents Earl and Adelaide Wilkerson, wife Beverly Wilkerson, daughter-in-law Angela Wilkerson, brothers Don and Gary, sister Joyce, sister-in-law Ann, and brothers-in-law Elvin, and Gordon.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, August 5, 2017 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Plainville. Inurnment will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00-4:00pm on Friday at the funeral home with rosary service at 3:00pm, and from 6:00-8:00pm at the church with Prayer Vigil starting at 7:00pm.
Emma Laubhan, 108, of Russell, Kansas, died on Friday, July 21, 2017, at Main Street Manor located in Russell Regional Hospital in Russell.
Emma was born on December 30, 1908, in Russell, Kansas, the daughter of Henry Sr. and Eva Margaret (Becker) Stricker. She grew up in the Bender Hill – Milberger area and attended schools there. She met, fell in love and was united in marriage to Theodore “Ted” Laubhan on November 24, 1946, in Ellsworth, Kansas. From this union Emma and Ted were blessed with their son Frank. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and homemaker. She was a longtime member of St. John Lutheran Church in Russell. She enjoyed needlework and other handwork crafts. Most of all she enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren.
Surviving family include her son Frank Laubhan and wife Margo of Wamego, Kansas; grandsons Matthew Laubhan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mark Laubhan of Tulare, California and Mike Laubhan of Manhattan, Kansas.
She was preceded in death by her husband Ted on September 04, 1997, 4 brothers Gottfried, Henry Jr., John and David and a sister Lydia Boxberger.
A celebration of Emma’s life will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Tuesday, August 01, 2017, at the St. John Lutheran Church in Russell, Kansas, with Pastor Roger Dennis officiating. Burial will follow after the church service at St. John Lutheran Cemetery in Russell. Visitation will be from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday, July 31, 2017, at the mortuary. Family will greet guest at the church the day of the service. Memorials may be given to St. John Lutheran Church and sent in care of the mortuary. Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary of Russell, Kansas, is in charge of the funeral service arrangements.
Former Fort Hays State University wrestler Andre Harrison, now a mixed martial arts fighter, has been featured on Sherdog.com, which bills itself as “The Global Authority on Mixed Martial Arts.”
The story — “Forever Haunted” — was written by Joseph Santoliquito, president of the Boxing Writer’s Association of America.
Click HERE for the story on the former student-athlete, who earned his degree in criminal justice from FHSU.
PAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas man has been sentenced in Pawnee County District court on two separate methamphetamine convictions.
Jeremy Hands, 43 of Larned, will spend 44 months in prison, according to a media release from the county attorney.
In December of 2016, Sheriff’s deputies found Methamphetamine in Hands’ vehicle following a traffic stop.
In January 2017, deputies arrested Hands a second time for driving while suspended at which time the Sheriff’s Department again located methamphetamine.
At the sentencing, Hands requested probation citing his completion of drug treatment while on bond. Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett opposed the request noting the defendant’s twenty plus year criminal history and two prior failures on felony probation.
Hands voluntarily surrendered himself to the Pawnee County Sheriff on July 22 to begin serving his sentence. He has previous convictions for theft, drugs and criminal damage in Barton and Pawnee County, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.
Carolyn Fuller, former Hays Middle School teacher, stands in the Schmidt Gallery at the Hays Public Library with her Mr. Potato Head collection.
One off-hand comment ended up in a collection of over 90 Mr. Potato Heads for Carolyn Fuller.
Fuller taught math at Hays Middle School for more than 30 years. She was always encouraging here students to participate in class.
“I opened my smart mouth and said, ‘You should participate more than a potato would,’ ” she said.
Her daughter found out about the comment and purchased Fuller her first Mr. Potato Head as a joke.
Fuller brought the Potato Head to class, and the kids thought it was funny.
From there, the Mr. Potato Head collection was born.
Fuller retired from teaching a couple of years ago, but this summer she unboxed her more than 90 Mr. Potato Heads and is displaying some of them at the Hays Public Library in the Schmidt Gallery.
Fuller never intended to collect Potato Heads, but people kept bringing them to her as gifts. They have come in all shapes in sizes and designs.
The original Mr. Potato Head was created by George Lerner of New York City in 1949. It was modeled after an earlier toy, “make a face,” which was a collection of facial parts that you stuck into a real potato. Although Fuller nor her daughters ever had Mr. Potato Heads as children, she said she did remember her cousins have the original “make a face” toy.
“Can you imagine giving that to a child now with the sharp points?” she said.
Parents complained about the rotting fruit and vegetables and the government banned sharp parts in children’s toys, so the head was replaced with a plastic potato in 1964.
The pieces were at one time distributed as prizes in cereal boxes, but the toy was picked up by what is now Hasbro in 1951.
Lerner’s Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be marketed on network television.
“Toy Story,” which was released in 1995, lead to a resurgence in Mr. Potato Head’s popularity and diversification of his personas as evidenced in Fuller’s collection.
Fuller’s Potato Heads include Spud Trooper and Darth Tater from “Star Wars,” Albert Einspud, Santa Clause, a pirate, an Indiana Jones and Superman spud. The Three Stooges are portrayed as the vegetable toy as well as the characters from the “Wizard of Oz.”
The Loony Tunes are also represented, including Donal Duck and Bugs Bunny.
Fuller has a young Elvis, old Elvis and Blue Hawaii Elvis. Hasbro has also made other toys that portray the character like a piggy bank, key chains and toys similar to a View Masters.
She has several Mr. Potato Heads that represent sports teams. The last Potato Head she received was a Pittsburg Steeler Mr. Potato Head, which mysteriously appeared on her on her last day at school. Fuller never discovered who gifted her the Potato Head.
Fuller said she has never met anyone else who collects Mr. Potato Head, but she is sure they are out there.
“It was fun,” she said of collecting the toys. “The kids at school liked it. I had a former student who told me she really liked my Mr. Potato Heads. She said no matter what was happening in class, there was always something to look at in my room. I am not sure that was a compliment, but it amused me.”
Fuller said she doesn’t know what the future of the Mr. Potato Head collection will be. Most of the toys were gifts, and they have meaning because of the people who gave them to her.
“It was just fun, and it just got out of control,” she said.
The collection will be on display at the library until Aug. 5.
The United Way of Ellis County (UWEC) is needing input to ensure direction for community service impact.
As a result of the town hall meetings last month conducted by the United Way, a Community Needs Assessment Survey was developed. The survey is located on their website at www.liveunited.us and will be available through Monday, July 31st and takes less than five minutes to complete.
According to UWEC Executive Director Sherry Dryden, “we are going for one last push for respondents as this is the last week for the survey to be open.” So far, Dryden says, “we have been getting great responses.”
The survey outcomes will be used by the local United Way for navigation in their strategic planning.
Trump added that “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Transgender service members have been able to serve openly in the military since last year, when former Defense Secretary Ash Carter ended the ban.
Military chiefs recently announced a delay on allowing transgender people from enlisting. But transgender troops are already serving openly in the military.
The United Way of Ellis County (UWEC) is needing input to ensure direction for community service impact.
As a result of the town hall meetings last month conducted by the United Way, a Community Needs Assessment Survey was developed. The survey is located on their website at www.liveunited.us and will be available through Monday, July 31st and takes less than five minutes to complete.
According to UWEC Executive Director Sherry Dryden, “we are going for one last push for respondents as this is the last week for the survey to be open.” So far, Dryden says, “we have been been getting great responses.”
The survey outcomes will be used by the local United Way for navigation in their strategic planning.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Jurors have acquitted a Wichita anti-abortion protester of battering a clinic guard in a dispute over a sign.
The Wichita Eagle reports that jurors returned the verdict Tuesday after 74-year-old David Schmidt appealed his municipal court conviction to Sedgwick County District Court.
Schmidt credited his lawyers with getting him “out from under a pile of manure.” One of his attorneys works for the Thomas More Society, a national nonprofit law firm that litigates abortion and religious-liberty cases.
The charge against Schmidt stemmed from a July 2016 incident outside the Trust Women South Wind Women’s Center, which offers reproductive care, including abortions. It is housed in the facility where George Tiller performed late-term abortions until he was fatally shot in 2009 at his Wichita church by an abortion opponent.
NASHVILLE – Kansas Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, M.D., addressed the National Lieutenant Governors Association annual conference in Nashville today to discuss Kansas’ Medicaid managed care program, KanCare, which has saved the state over a billion dollars in health-care costs while expanding coverage to an additional 65,000 Kansans.
“In 2011 when I took office, the growth rate of our Medicaid expenditures was not fiscally sustainable. Implementing KanCare allowed us to focus on Medicaid beneficiaries’ holistic needs, significantly improving care and treatment while curtailing costs,” said Dr. Colyer, who is originally from Hays. “Our cost-increase curve has been reduced to a sustainable level, health outcomes are improving, and we’re serving more Kansans.”
Dr. Colyer, a practicing physician and surgeon, spearheaded the effort to create KanCare, which launched in January of 2013, and is now in its fourth year. Unlike other states’ managed care programs, KanCare incorporates the provision of non-medical home and community-based services for the elderly and individuals with disabilities, as well as serving traditional Medicaid populations.
“We are now working on KanCare 2.0, the next phase of KanCare scheduled to go into effect in January of 2019. In addition to building on our current successes, we have initiated a process improvement working group to streamline processes and procedures for the KanCare managed care organizations (MCOs) and for our provider groups in order to standardize the way the KanCare network is structured,” he said. “We are listening carefully to the voices of stakeholders in our efforts to fine-tune KanCare and better serve the people of Kansas.”
Representative Dan Hawkins, chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, serves on the KanCare improvement working group. “KanCare has met one of its principal goals—that of controlling Medicaid costs by emphasizing health, prevention and early detection, while at the same time implementing lasting reforms that sustain improvements in the health and well-being outcomes for those on KanCare,” said Rep. Hawkins. “It has been a win-win for the State of Kansas, and other states would do well to look to KanCare for a model.”
While more work remains to be done, the working group has engaged partners and stakeholders to generate solutions, including surveying providers to determine training needs, developing a comprehensive training database; conducting ongoing reviews of prior authorizations, denial codes, and data metrics; streamlining the CARE assessment process for nursing home admissions; and creating a standardized process for grievances and appeals.
“We are making significant progress in these and other areas,” Dr. Colyer said. “I believe these new processes and procedures will better serve members of KanCare, our providers and our state.”
Riley County Police arrested Sangala Stevens, 27, in March of 2016 for an alleged rape and other charges. He was sentenced for sexual battery, criminal restraint and aggravated battery, He is currently being held in the Norton Correctional Facility.
RILEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Manhattan are investigating another alleged rape and looking for a suspect. Police reported the rape, kidnapping and aggravated assault in a media release Tuesday.
A 24-year-old woman reported that an unknown suspect threatened and raped her at her Manhattan residence, according to police.
Police released no additional information.
Riley County authorities say the number of rapes reported in Manhattan and surrounding areas has doubled during the first quarter of this year compared with the same time last year.
Sixteen rapes were reported in the first quarter of 2017, up from eight in the same period in 2016.
Authorities say some of the rapes reported this year came from one investigation, after detectives identified other victims while investigating the original report.
A total of 40 rapes were reported in 2016.
Anyone with information on the crime reported Tuesday is asked to contact the RCPD at 537-2112 or Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers at 539-7777.
