RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged attempted murder and have a suspect in custody.
Just after 7 a.m. on Thursday, police filed a report for attempted murder in the 2nd degree, aggravated endangering a child and criminal use of weapons in the 1900 block of Lincoln Dr. in Manhattan, according to the RCPD activity report.
A 27-year-old Manhattan man is listed as the victim, according to police.
Police arrested Curtis Norman, 57, of Manhattan on charges of attempted murder in the 2nd degree and criminal use of weapons.
Norman remains jailed on a bond of $100,000.00. He has a previous aggravated battery conviction in 2001, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford and Mazda are recalling more than 380,000 older small pickup trucks for a second time to replace Takata air bag inflators that can explode and hurl shrapnel.
The recalls cover driver and passenger inflators in certain 2004 to 2006 Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series trucks made by Ford.
Takata uses ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion that inflates air bags. But the chemical can deteriorate over time and burn too fast, blowing apart a metal canister. At least 20 people have been killed worldwide.
The trucks were recalled in 2015 and 2016 to replace inflators with newer ones as a temporary fix. Under the latest recalls, inflators will be swapped for ones that don’t use ammonium nitrate.
Owners will be notified starting later this month.
Barbara Hutchison, 70, died Dec. 18, 2017, at Hays Medical Center, Hays. She was born Dec. 31, 1946, at Ellsworth, the daughter of James and Elva (Trapp) Ray. She married Melvin D. Rush Jan. 9, 1965, at Ellsworth. He died April 27, 1992. She then married John Hutchison Oct. 12, 1996, at Great Bend. A long-time Great Bend resident, Mrs. Hutchison was a teller at Security State Bank and Landmark Bank.
Mrs. Hutchison was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Trinity Ladies Fellowship, and church prayer team. She enjoyed baking and collecting Precious Moments figurines.
Survivors include her husband, John Hutchison, of the home; two daughters, Donna Schloemer and her husband Damon of Tacoma, Wash., and Debbie Stoughton of Hutchinson; one brother, Stanley Ray and his wife Lori of Lyons; and three grandchildren, Deborah, Johnnie and Kaleb. She was preceded in death by one son, Steve Rush.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m., Friday, Dec. 22, 2017, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Great Bend with the Rev. Jon Brudvig officiating. Burial will be in Great Bend Cemetery. Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with the family present from 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, at Bryant Funeral Home. Memorials have been established with the Trinity Lutheran Church Window Fund, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.
We applaud the passage today of the tax reform package, and look forward to the president signing it into law. Individual tax rates are going down, and with 94 percent of farmers and ranchers paying taxes as individuals, this is a welcome change.
The doubling of the estate tax exemption to $11 million per person will also provide relief to the vast majority of farmers and ranchers. The bill also provides the opportunity for farmers and ranchers to immediately deduct expenses like feed, seed, fertilizer and chemicals.
We appreciate the hard work by Congress, specifically Sen. Roberts who serves on the Senate Finance committee and Rep. Lynn Jenkins who serves on the House Ways and Means committee. We look forward to the bill becoming law.
Victoria, Kansas – Stanley Joseph Stramel Jr., age 47, died Wednesday, December 20, 2017, at Hays Medical Center, Hays, Kansas.
Services are 10:00 A.M. Saturday, December 23, 2017, at Liberty Foursquare Church 400 East 7th Street, Hays, Kansas.
Visitation is from 6:00 to 9:00 P.M. Friday, at Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary, 412 Main Street, Victoria, Kansas 67671, and from 9:00 to 10:00 A.M. Saturday at Liberty Foursquare Church in Hays, Kansas. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, Pfiefer, Kansas.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have identified a woman’s body found in Kansas City, Missouri, as that of missing 18-year-old and say a person of interest in her disappearance killed himself.
Police said Wednesday that the body of Mikayla Norris, of suburban Overland Park, Kansas, was discovered Tuesday in a wooded area. Kareem McCoy-Lee’s body was found behind a sporting goods store in suburban Liberty, Missouri. Police are investigating the deaths as a possible murder suicide.
Police in Liberty say McCoy-Lee also fired shots earlier Tuesday at another woman while she was driving. She wasn’t struck but hit a tree.
Norris was last seen Sunday leaving a barbecue restaurant where she worked.
KSHB-TV reports that McCoy-Lee had been charged with assault while living in Kansas City and with domestic violence while living in Florida.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have found a woman’s body in Kansas City, Missouri, while searching for a missing 18-year-old and say a person of interest in her disappearance has killed himself.
Kansas City police say a tip Tuesday night led officers to a wooded area where the woman’s body was found. Police are trying to determine if the body is that of Mikayala Norris, of suburban Overland Park, Kansas. She was last seen Sunday leaving a barbecue restaurant where she worked. A missing person flyer said she was headed to a party. She didn’t show up for work Monday.
Police say the person of interest in the case was found dead Tuesday night behind a sporting goods store in suburban Liberty, Missouri, and that the case is being investigated as a possible murder-suicide.
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Person of interest in connection with the search for Norris-photo Overland Park PD
KANSAS CITY (AP) – Authorities have found a woman’s body in Kansas City, Missouri, while searching for a missing 18-year-old and say a person of interest in her disappearance has killed himself.
KMBC-TV reports that a tip led police to a wooded area where the woman’s body was found Tuesday night. Police are trying to determine if the body is that of Mikayala Norris, of suburban Overland Park, Kansas. She was last seen Sunday leaving a barbecue restaurant where she worked as a hostess. A missing person flyer said she was headed to a party. She didn’t show up for work Monday.
The person of interest in the case was found dead in suburban Liberty, Missouri. Police had asked for help earlier Tuesday finding a man seen in nearby Gladstone, Missouri, driving Norris’ car.
It would include a TIF (Tax Increment Financing district), CID (Community Improvement District), and retention of the onsite Transient Guest Tax (TGT), according to Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood.
“This is the start of a long series of items for the city commission to discuss,” Wood said. “You’ll see items probably for the next three or four months.”
“The development of a TIF is a very lengthy process, something that is dictated by state law. There’ll be a lot of items coming forward with that.”
A Tax Increment Financing district allows a developer to capture the increase in property taxes.
“It’s a clear brown field now. They come in and build. As the property taxes increase, they’ll be able to take that increment, that increase, and put it back towards financing purchases. Those would be infrastructure, the road, sewer, parking lots, the building structure, that sort of thing,” Wood explained.
The Transient Guest Tax retention would allow the developer to keep any guest tax collected at their facility. “It’s intended to go back into the overhead and maintenance upkeep of the convention facility. Those facilities typically don’t make a lot of money. In order to make the numbers work, they need that additional incentive.”
The TGT for Hays motels is five percent, which is “low compared to most other Kansas towns,” Wood said. The TFT is normally collected by the city and used in the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) for marketing and promotion of Hays.
The CID will come forward at a later date. It’s an additional sales tax on top of the current sales tax that will go back into paying for the infrastructure cost.
The Hilton Garden Inn will have 100 beds and contain a small restaurant and bar. It would employ the equivalent of about 35 full-time employees.
Ground could be broken as soon as April on the new $12 million to $14 million facility with the center opening in 12 to 14 months, developer Raju Sheth said.
City commissioners will review the incentive package request during their work session this evening. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.
Bill Bures, left, and his partner, Jerry Pabst, right, enjoyed their life together in Nebraska and managing their Omaha company Collector’s Choice. Bures died in 2005 of cancer, and Pabst died of cancer in 2016 and bequeathed a $3 million endowment for prostate cancer research and patient care.
University of Nebraska Medical Center
OMAHA, Neb. — Hoping to advance new discoveries in prostate cancer treatment and care, longtime Omaha art teacher and businessman Gerald “Jerry” Pabst donated $3 million through an estate gift to support cancer research carried out by the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.
The gift establishes three permanently endowed funds at the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the efforts of prostate cancer researchers and physicians. The funds will be conferred as honorary chairs named after Pabst and his late partner, Bill Bures, who died of prostate cancer. Pabst also lost his father and uncle to prostate cancer.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) will confer a Bill Bures and Jerry Pabst Chair award to three individual prostate cancer specialists, one each to an expert in urologic surgery, radiation oncology and to a specialist in chemotherapy, vaccines or prevention methods. Annual income from the endowed chair funds will be used to support the medical research and patient care of those who are conferred with a Bures-Pabst Chair.
Pabst died in 2016 due to complications of esophageal cancer. While planning this gift some years ago, he told the university he believes an investment in people at the cancer center will someday pay high dividends.
“I realize it just doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m hoping this research will bring us closer to discovering new cancer treatments and possibly a cure,” he said.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States and the second leading cause of death from cancer in men. In Nebraska, it’s the third most-diagnosed cancer behind breast and lung cancers. While a serious disease, a majority of men in Nebraska are diagnosed early, providing an opportunity for successful treatment options.
“We’re extremely thankful for the generosity of Jerry Pabst and Bill Bures, and the endowed chairs in their honor will absolutely help to expand our expertise in researching and treating prostate cancer,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D. “This perpetual financial support will benefit our mission to transform lives through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care.”
Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, said recruiting national leaders in cancer research is essential to the cancer center’s success. Endowed faculty positions that provide long-term financial support strengthen UNMC’s ability to do so.
“Jerry’s gift is truly visionary in its support of our future needs,” said Cowan soon after first meeting Pabst and learning about his plans to support cancer research and care. “Funding for endowed chairs is significant to an academic medical center, as the income generated from each will enable us to recruit and retain a renowned physician-researcher.”
The Omaha World-Herald said Jerry Pabst “never stopped to take a break” and that he “worked tirelessly” to provide quality art courses to students in Omaha Public Schools during his 31 years as district art coordinator.
Pabst was a native of Colby, Kansas, and the son of Herman and Lucille Pabst. He graduated from Kansas State University and then received a master’s degree from Fort Hays State University. He was hired by Omaha Public Schools as an art teacher and was later promoted to district art coordinator.
He helped introduce discipline-based teaching to the art program in 1986 with the aid of grant money from the Getty Center. The style integrated art history into regular art courses for students from kindergarten to high school. He also advocated for students to receive more time for art classes.
Pabst and his companion, William “Bill” Bures, founded Collector’s Choice in Omaha in 1969, a business providing premier estate sales services and an antique sales showroom in the former Center Theater.
Bures was a native of Geneva, Nebraska, and the son of Frank and Helen Bures. After high school he attended business school before working for Gold’s department store and Ben Simons clothing store in Lincoln, where he managed the men’s department for many years. He retired from clothing retail in 1991 to devote time to Collector’s Choice.
Bures died on Feb. 2, 2005, at age 61 from complications of prostate cancer, and Pabst died on Aug. 26, 2016, at age 79 from complications of esophageal cancer.
The Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center – a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center – is a collaboration of Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The cancer center opened in 2017 with cancer research at the Suzanne and Walter Scott Cancer Research Tower and clinical treatments at the C.L. Werner Cancer Hospital.
Outstanding fall 2017 graduates were announced in a pinning ceremony by the Department of Nursing at Fort Hays State University.
The on-campus Bachelor of Science in Nursing award for outstanding clinical performance, community involvement and academic achievement was awarded to Jordan Christensen, Colby.
The Outreach B.S.N. award for outstanding clinical performance, community involvement and academic achievement was awarded to Christina Lawver, Plainville.
The graduate student award winner for demonstrating involvement and academic achievement was Sarah Green, Hays, who is graduating from the Master of Science in Nursing program.
The ceremony also recognized graduating on-campus B.S.N. students.
The Stroup awards were created in 1993 in honor of Leora B. Stroup, founder of the nursing program at FHSU.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Barry Brown Jr. seemed to do everything for Kansas State when the game against Washington State was on the line.
Brown scored the last six points during a 10-0 run in the closing minutes that lifted Kansas State to a 68-65 come-from-behind victory over the Cougars on Wednesday night at the Spokane Arena.
Brown finished with 23 points and six rebounds. Makol Mawien added 15 points and nine boards for Kansas State (10-2), which has won six of its past seven games.
“Down the stretch we really executed,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “The most important thing is we got stops when we needed stops, and rebounds.”
“It was a good win for our guys,” Weber said.
Carter Skaggs had 24 points and Malachi Flynn 23 for Washington State (7-4), which overcame a dreadful first half to take the lead in the second half.
“This team has come a long way after getting picked last in the conference,” Washington State coach Ernie Kent said.
“As much as we took control, that veteran team grinded out the game,” Kent said of the Wildcats.
Neither team shot well. Kansas State finished at 42 percent shooting while Washington State shot 38 percent.
Mawien scored eight points as Kansas State jumped to a 21-9 lead.
The Wildcats led 35-25 at halftime, after holding Washington State to 29-percent shooting (9-of-31). Kansas State wasn’t much better, shooting 39 percent in the first.
Skaggs had 13 first half points for Washington State.
Washington State found its shooting range in the second half.
Skaggs hit a pair of 3-pointers as Washington State opened the second half with an 11-4 run to cut its deficit to 39-36.
Flynn’s layup and free throw gave Washington State its first lead at 49-47 with 10 minutes left. Flynn sank a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cougars a 57-49 lead.
“We handled ourselves well to get back in the game,” Kent said.
But the Wildcats closed with a 19-8 run to win.
“They closed it and we didn’t,” Kent said.
Brown made six straight points as Kansas State cut the deficit to 63-62 with 1:26 left.
Brown’s dunk put the Wildcats ahead 64-63 with 51 seconds left.
Flynn missed a long jumper and Kansas State rebounded. Brown hit a pair of free throws and the Cougars missed another long jumper.
THREE’S HARD TO GET
Kansas State hit just 4 of 24 from 3-point range.
THE BOARDS
The Wildcats won the rebound battle 43-37, and outscored the Cougars in the paint 38-24.
BIG PICTURE
Kansas State: Former Kansas State president Kirk Schulz is now president of Washington State. The Wildcats have scored at least 80 points six times this season. Against Tulsa, Xavier Sneed led the Wildcats in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Four starters average at least 12.5 points per game.
Washington State: The Cougars are something of a question mark. They opened with six straight wins, then lost three in a row before beating IUPUI last weekend. The Cougars are outscoring opponents by an average of 42-35 in the second half this season.
UP NEXT
Kansas State plays at Iowa State on Dec. 29 in their Big 12 opener.
RENO COUNTY —A Kansas teen suspected of being the shooter in the killing of a Hutchinson man entered a plea to a lesser charge on Wednesday.
Leo Wells, 19, was charged with intentional murder in the second degree after he shot and killed 24-year-old Kenneth Thompson. In court, Wells waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter.
On June 24, Hutchinson Police Officers were dispatched to the 100 block of South Elm in reference to a shooting and located the vThompson, lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries.
District Attorney Keith Schroeder during the hearing talked of the gathering or party where the two men apparently got into an argument and Wells decided to leave.
Thompson apparently followed taunting him with what some called playful banter. Once Wells got to his vehicle, he pulled a gun and shot Thompson. While on the ground, Wells fire more rounds at the victim. Although not mentioned in court, Schroeder said after the hearing that the Thompson suffered four wounds including in one leg, his wrist and two in the chest.
With Wells entering the plea, he’ll be sentenced on Feb. 9.
The Voluntary Manslaughter conviction carries a maximum sentence 20-years and seven months (247-months) in prison.
Wells remains jailed on a $350,000 bond pending sentencing.
Frostfest Carriage Rides Hosted by The Bricks in Downtown Hays
Tonight is your last chance to enjoy carriage rides on the bricks this holiday season. There’s nothing quite like a carriage ride down the beautifully lit Main Street in Downtown Hays. Bring the whole family for fun and late night shopping!
This night of carriage rides is made possible by Be Made and REFINE! Rides are only $3 per person and ages 3 and under ride free!
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged attempted murder and have a suspect in custody.
