PAWNEE COUNTY — A Kansas man is facing charges multiple drug charges and made a first court appearance Monday.
Pawnee County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Joseph Shane Allen, 42 of Pierceville, Thursday without incident following a routine traffic stop, according to the Pawnee County Attorney.
He is charged with possession of between 3.5. grams and 100 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of between 10 and 100 doses of an opioid or narcotic drug with intent to distribute, unlawful drug manufacturing precursors, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia suitable for manufacture of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon; possession of hallucinogenic drug, circumvention of an interlock device, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia suitable for ingesting a controlled substance, and speeding.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for October 16, 2017. He has 8 previous convictions for drugs and or driving charges, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
The defendant remains in the custody of the Pawnee County Sheriff on a $90,000 bond.
More than 350 staff, parents and individuals served by Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas (DSNWK) came together on Friday, September 29, at Kennedy Middle School in Hays to celebrate the 50th anniversary of DSNWK.
The event featured a special dance in the gymnasium with the music of Jimmy Dee and the Fabulous Destinations. The event also included a special lunch, group photo and balloon launch.
Following the celebration, the public was invited to an open house at Reed Developmental Center. Participants enjoyed refreshments, a ribbon cutting by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce and a 50-year timeline tour of DSNWK.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The man accused of walking into a tax office in Wichita and shooting a state tax agent has pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder.
Fifty-two-year-old Ricky Wirths waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered the plea Tuesday. Investigators say Wirths went to the Kansas Department of Revenue office Sept. 19 and shot Cortney Holloway several times.
Wirths, of Wichita, owed nearly $400,000 in outstanding tax warrants and Holloway was working on the case. The day of the shooting, agents had gone to Wirths’ home to seize assets.
Earlier Tuesday, Holloway’s family issued a statement urging prosecutors not to allow Wirths to plead to a lesser charge, saying he should spend the rest of his life in prison.
Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss during the July hearing on Kansas school funding-image Kansas Judicial Branch
ByCELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN
The Kansas Supreme Court on Monday struck down the state’s aid to schools as unconstitutionally low — and unfair to poor school districts in particular. The decision could pressure lawmakers to increase school funding by hundreds of millions dollars.
In June, Kansas lawmakers passed a new school finance formula that included an infusion of nearly $300 million by 2019. The question now, justices wrote, was whether Kansas had shown this complies with the Kansas Constitution.
“We hold the State has not,” they said, even if the formula “makes positive strides.”
The need for more education spending will likely force lawmakers into yet more difficult conversations about tax policy. This summer the Legislature wrapped up a 114-day session — a tie for the state’s longest ever — that revolved around the fate of Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature 2012 tax cuts.
That political fight ended when, after multiple attempts at a resolution, lawmakers overrode a veto from the governor and hiked taxes over the next two years to dodge a $900 million deficit and increase aid to schools.
Monday’s ruling requires lawmakers to pass legislation to fix the situation by April 30, which is the deadline for the state to file a legal brief in defense of that new legislation. Oral arguments are scheduled for May 22, and the state Supreme Court will issue its next ruling by June 30.
The justices pointed to the history of litigation against the state, saying courts had found funding for Kansas public schools insufficient for 12 of the past 15 years, even before Monday’s decision.
“We will not allow ourselves to be placed in the position of being complicit actors,” they wrote, “in the continuing deprivation of a constitutionally adequate and equitable education owed to hundreds of thousands of Kansas school children.”
‘Not going to happen’
Republican legislative leaders including Senate President Susan Wagle expressed consternation about the ruling in a joint statement.
“This ruling shows clear disrespect for the legislative process and puts the rest of state government and programs in jeopardy,” the statement said. “Senate Republicans remain committed to providing every Kansas student with an exceptional education, however, raising taxes to fund this unrealistic demand is not going to happen.”
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley urged lawmakers to appoint a special panel to begin crafting a fix as soon as possible.
“Today’s decision once again validates what I have been saying throughout the school finance litigation,” he said. “We cannot wait until the 2018 session to remedy these constitutional violations.”
House Minority Leader Jim Ward called the ruling “no surprise.”
“The Democratic caucus is ready to get to work immediately” on a new formula, he said.
Brownback’s office did not have an immediate comment on the ruling. A spokeswoman said his office was still reviewing it.
Some Democrats had speculated the court would order a fix sooner than next spring or summer, making a special legislative session necessary. But Monday’s ruling means lawmakers can pass legislation during their next regular session, which starts in January 2018.
During this year’s session, lawmakers were under court pressure to increase funding for schools. The new school finance formula that they passed in June was designed to increase annual aid by $293 million over the next two years — with most of that increase coming this school year — and to tie funding to inflation after that.
Lawmakers were divided at the time over whether this amount would satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court, which in March struck down the state’s previous school finance scheme as unconstitutional.
The state’s lawyers argued in court that it should be enough, but plaintiffs pushed for three times as much.
The justices not only concluded the $293 million boost wasn’t sufficient, they said several details in the new school finance formula were unfair to poorer school districts and taxpayers in those areas.
Among these problems, they cited a provision that benefited only two school districts in the state —Blue Valley and De Soto, both in Johnson County — by giving them dollars to serve more children from low-income families than are actually registered as attending those districts.
Plaintiff schools reaction
Four school districts — Wichita, Dodge City, Hutchinson and Kansas City Kansas — are plaintiffs in the Gannon v. Kansas lawsuit, with dozens more co-sponsoring it.
Dodge City superintendent Fred Dierksen applauded the court’s decision.
“The bottom line is that I want to be able to offer the same education in Dodge City that they’re able to offer in the Kansas City area,” Dierksen said. “I think it goes without saying that we all deserve that.”
Kansas City Kansas superintendent Cindy Lane expressed frustration that schools would not see a resolution this school year. But she was optimistic about the eventual effect of the ruling.
“I am hopeful now with this ruling, as strong as it is, that our legislative body will do what they need to do,” she said.
John Robb, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called it yet another “great ruling for Kansas kids.”
“It shows the courts are going to enforce our constitution and they’re going to insist that the Legislature provide suitable funding,” Robb said Monday. “They keep telling the Legislature what they need to do, and the Legislature sooner or later needs to listen.”
Monday’s ruling was just the latest in a series of decisions over the past seven years in which Kansas courts found fault with the state’s K-12 funding. The various court orders found overall funding inadequate or otherwise unfair to students living in districts with less local wealth as defined by taxable property, a key money source.
School districts had already sued and won a similar court case that ran from 1999 to the mid-2000s and that ended with the state agreeing to increase annual school funding by more than $750 million. The recession hit before the money had been fully phased in, and the plan to do so fell by the wayside.
Instead, the recession sparked hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts. Brownback’s signature 2012 tax cuts and the ensuing state revenue woes in recent years perpetuated the situation.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Servicecovering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Royals pitcher Danny Duffy underwent surgery Tuesday to remove loose debris in his pitching elbow, and the left-hander is expected to resume his normal offseason training in about six weeks.
The Royals said that Duffy should be ready for spring training in February.
Duffy has been dealing with minor pain in his elbow for a couple years, but loose cartilage and bone chips had begun to cause inflammation. He landed on the disabled list in late August but returned to make three starts down the stretch in September.
Duffy wound up 9-10 with a 3.81 ERA over 24 starts in the first season of a five-year, $65 million extension he signed before the season. He struck out 130 while issuing just 41 walks, and is expected to be the ace of a rebuilt starting rotation next season.
I write as a parent of two children of USD 489, one of whom has gone all the way through and graduated and another still in elementary school. I also teach in the district and want to explain the reasons that going from 3-section to 4-section elementary schools is highly beneficial to our children and our community.
First, we reduce operational costs by reducing the number and age of buildings. We realize savings through systems that work more efficiently and need less maintenance as well as the need for fewer custodial staff to maintain fewer facilities. These savings can then go into continuing regular maintenance costs and other projects needed by the district.
Another consideration is the increase in instructional time due to each school having their own specials and support staff (counselors, psychologists, speech) so scheduling will provide students with more consistency to optimize learning time. These support staff will provide more actual student contact time since they will not be using time to travel between buildings. Time will also not be lost in attempting to schedule p.e. classes due to gyms being used to seat children for lunch.
The board has set a goal of reducing our number of students to meet research that shows the lower student-teacher ratios increase learning for children. Students will benefit from lower class sizes with more sections of each grade level overall across the district. We currently do not have the space for this type of expansion in our district which hampers our ability to reduce class sizes. Since the increase is
only 1 section per school, the overall size of the school remains small and has the family feel with the spaces engineered for overcrowding of hallways and common spaces reduced.
DICKINSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects for a drugs and child endangerment charges.
After the execution of a search warrant Monday at homes in the 200 Block of East Hawley in Herrington, deputies arrested Brandi Nicole Gantenbein, 27, and Tonya Lynn Braucher, 30, on multiple drug related counts, according to a media release from the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies arrested Gantenbein on suspicion of felony counts of Possession of Methamphetamine and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, plus misdemeanor charges of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Endangering a Child.
Deputies arrested Braucher on suspicion of felony counts of Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a misdemeanor count of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and two counts of Endangering a Child.
The search warrants were executed by The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Enforcement Unit, Deputies of that department, and officers with the Abilene and Herington Police Departments.
During the search of the residences law enforcement officers seized more than one ounce of methamphetamine and several items of drug paraphernalia. The case is ongoing and more arrests are possible.
Braucher has previous convictions for Aggravated child endangerment, theft, drugs and burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
TOPEKA – Select movie theaters across Kansas will be showing an inspirational movie about a man who has dedicated his life to rescuing and helping orphaned children in Kenya. Mully will be shown at 7 p.m., Oct. 3-5, in Topeka, Lawrence, Wichita, Olathe and Merriam at the following theaters:
Topeka
Hollywood Stadium 14
6200 SW 6th Ave. Lawrence
Southwind Stadium 12
3433 Iowa St. Wichita
Warren Theatre East
11611 E. 13th St. N. Wichita
Theatre West Plus IMAX
9150 W. 21st St. N. Olathe
Studio 28 KC with IMAX
12075 S. Strang Line Rd. Merriam
Cinemark 20 Merriam
5500 Antioch
Mully tells the story of Charles Mully, who was just six-years-old when his family abandoned him in Kenya. Later in life, after becoming a millionaire entrepreneur, he sold everything he owned to rescue more than 12,000 homeless, abused or orphaned children.
Mully has since established a charity, Mully Children’s Family, dedicated to making a difference in the lives of thousands of children in need.
Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) staff will be onsite at each movie location promoting the need for foster families across the state of Kansas. Recruiters will have a booth available to address questions and help prospective foster families start the fostering journey.
Upon my return from the two-day Kansas Energy Conference co-sponsored by the CEP’s Clean Energy Business Council and the Kansas Department of Commerce in Wichita, it was my pleasure to celebrate the incredible hard work the CEP team put into making this event a great success.
The Energy Conference is the latest example of the Climate + Energy Project at its best. This conference facilitated in depth, forward-thinking, non partisan discourse on the energy transition for Kansas. From utility scale wind and solar to energy storage and distributed generation, from trends in corporate demand for renewable energy to energy efficiency, electric vehicles, and economic development, the wide-ranging agenda fostered high level conversations of precisely the kind that need to take place for the energy sector in Kansas to evolve.
Our state is incredibly fortunate to have the Climate + Energy Project doing this work – quite simply, these conversations would not be happening in Kansas if not for the CEP.
This year’s conference had nearly 300 registered participants and 55 speakers including the Kansas Secretary of Commerce, Lt. Governor Colyer and Governor Sam Brownback. Attendees networked with 30 sponsors and exhibitors and 25 Kansas legislators during pre-conference events and two full days of the conference which, this year featured a Distributed Generation workshop organized by CEP.
Uma Outka, board chair of the Climate and Energy Project, Hutchinson, is a Professor of Law at the University of Kansas School of Law.
Police on the scene of Tuesday’s fatal shooting-image courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting.
Just after 4a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call of a shooting in the 1300 block of SW Western in Topeka, according police spokesperson Amy McCarter.
Officers found a man dead who has been identified as Joshua A. Jernagin, 30, Topeka, according to Lt. John Sturgeon.
They also found an injured woman who was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police have not reported an arrest. They are asking for anyone with information to call or come to the area near the crime scene speak to police.
RENO COUNTY — The suspect in a September 21, fatal hit-and-run accident in Hutchison made a court appearance Tuesday. Taylor Lukone, 19, now faces an upgraded charge of first-degree murder. The 51-year-old victim died Monday.
Upon hearing the new charge Tuesday Lukone immediately told the judge that hitting Jose Lopez with his car while Lopez was riding his bicycle in the 1200 block of East 4th Street was neither intentional or premeditated.
An affidavit read in court last week said that Lukone initially told officers that his car had been stolen. But he later told investigators he intentionally “sped up” and ran Lopez down.
Appearing from the Reno County Correctional Facility, he asked to appear in person in the courtroom for any future hearings.
He also asked for a reduction of the $100,000 bond, which was denied. His case now moves to a waiver-status docket on Oct. 18.
Thomas More Prep-Marian Junior Night at Sonic will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11. To ensure 10 percent of the proceeds go to the Junior Class mention you are supporting TMP-Marian when placing your order.
