SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspect on felony charges.
On Thursday, a business in the 3000 Block NW Topeka in Topeka reported a felony theft of firearms, according to a media release.
Suspects were described as 2 younger males, a white male and a black male. With the assistance of the business surveillance technology- clear video was obtained of the suspects and the suspect’s vehicle.
Partnering with the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) the investigation led to the identification of the suspects and the vehicle. Topeka Police located the suspect vehicle in the early morning hours Friday.
Four firearms were recovered from the vehicle and individuals, two of the firearms were from the business theft.
Lake-photo Shawnee Co.
Police arrested Javon Williams, 21, on charges of felony theft, felon in possession of a firearm (two charges), felony possession of a firearm and warrants. Also arrested was Zachariah Lake, 22, on charges of felony theft, felony possession of a firearm and warrants. Both are of Topeka.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Whisper. When someone lowers his or her voice to say something in a whisper, do you want to come closer and learn more? Today we’ll meet an executive of an innovative marketing agency named WHISPER. This New York City executive comes from rural Kansas.
Steve Cranford is co-founder of WHISPER. Steve’s father was career Navy so Steve moved a lot as a child. His mother is from Arkansas City, Kansas. When his father retired, the family moved to Arkansas City.
Steve finished school there, went to Pittsburg State, and got a law degree at Washburn. He worked as an attorney in Cowley County and then as a special prosecutor for the Kansas Attorney General before being recruited into private industry.
Steve did corporate legal work in Wichita and then founded a business of his own in St. Louis. Through it all, he recognized the importance of one common theme: Communication.
“As a prosecutor, a corporate lawyer and in retail, I saw the value of effective communication,” Steve said. He also met and married his wife, a K-State graduate.
In 2004, he and two partners decided to put their communications expertise into practice in a different way. They launched a marketing firm, originally in California and then in downtown New York where it is headquartered today.
They named the company WHISPER. “When we introduced the name, we encountered skepticism from other agencies,” Steve said. “They said that a whisper would be drowned out in the loud marketplace of today. We thought just the opposite. When you whisper, you’re sharing valuable information and people are innately prompted to invest their time and listen.”
The name proved apt. The goal was to convey messaging that benefits the client. Today, WHISPER works globally in 18 different industries.
“We are a marketing agency that creates reputation-building, brand content, communication and media assets to ensure client causes and products are craved over competing choices,” Steve said. He emphasizes assets which add to a company’s revenues, rather than costs.
“People think of marketing as an isolated or siloed business function,” Steve said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.” He talks the language of the business leaders themselves. “We’re focused on creating business results, not marketing results. I’m not interested in the number of click-throughs on a website, I want to add to a client’s sales and growth.”
WHISPER concentrates on determining the right message first. “We help clients cut through all the noise,” Steve said. “We help the client decide what they should say before they spend a nickel to say it, and make sure what they say engages people.”
This bottom-line business approach has helped grow the company’s clientele. Today, WHISPER clients include NBC Universal, IBM, Accuweather, Mercedes Benz and many more. Much of the company’s business is overseas. WHISPER also has clients such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and the March of Dimes.
“One thing I’ve learned is how people are much the same world-wide,” Steve said. “For example, when we met with the president of a Saudi Arabian company, the first thing he wanted to tell us about was his family.
“I had no idea, when I was sitting in a classroom at Arkansas City High School, that I would have these kinds of opportunities,” Steve said. Arkansas City is a town of 12,063 people. Now, that’s rural.
As a Kansan, Steve was at first pleasantly surprised at the outside perception of his home state. “Eighteen years ago when we moved to southern California and were asked where we were from, we got the exact opposite of the reaction we expected when we said we were from Kansas,” Steve said. “Instead of stereotyping us as hayseeds, they haloed us as hard-working, dependable, salt-of-the-earth people.” Steve carries his Kansas values and assets with him wherever he goes.
We commend Steve Cranford for making a difference with his creative approach to marketing, branding, and adding value to customers. Remember, when you want to be heard: Whisper.
Listen as the ‘Voice of the Chiefs’ Mitch Holthus recaps last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills and previews Sunday’s game at the Meadowlands against the New York Jets.
The Holthus Hotline airs Saturday at 6:30 a.m. during the Chiefs season.
Children who come from low-income families, have disabilities, aren’t white or don’t speak English at home appear to be disproportionately paying the price of Kansas’ teacher shortage, according to an analysis by the Kansas News Service.
Particularly affected are Liberal, Garden City and Dodge City — southwest Kansas towns where most of the students come from low-income families and more than half face the added challenge of building math, literacy and other skills while acquiring English as a second language.
The state’s largest school district, Wichita Public Schools — another predominantly non-white district where three-fourths of the students come from low-income families — is struggling too, reporting nearly 80 unfilled positions as of early this school year.
“It does not lend itself to a fully functioning democracy to not have a strong public education system,” said Steve Wentz, president of the Wichita teachers union. “At some level, money and race is obviously an issue here that people don’t want to talk about.”
Debbie Mercer, dean of education at Kansas State University, said the disproportionate effect of teacher shortages on students in demographic groups that face academic achievement gaps is cause for concern.
About 110 of the 443 teacher and related vacancies reported statewide this school year for prekindergarten through 12th grade involved educating children who have disabilities or are learning English as a second language.
The dearth of special education teachers in particular has long been a problem.
“If we look at special education,” Mercer said, “we’ve known that’s been the No. 1 area of need for years.”
Hover over shaded areas on map to see information about teacher vacancies by Kansas school district.
Hiring challenges
The Kansas News Service obtained a breakdown of this year’s school vacancies through a data request to the Kansas State Department of Education. The list includes unfilled positions for teachers and some other personnel, such as counselors and psychologists.
Nearly half of vacancies at public school districts were concentrated in five districts where upwards of 70 or 80 percent of students come from low-income families:
Wichita USD 259, 79 vacancies (compared to about 4,300 total certified staff last year).
Garden City USD 457, 42 vacancies (about 615 total certified staff last year).
Liberal USD 480, 29 vacancies (380 total certified staff last year).
Kansas City Kansas USD 500, 29 vacancies (2,135 total certified staff last year).
Dodge City USD 443, 22 vacancies (about 470 total certified staff last year).
David Smith, communications director for Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, said the district finds it challenging to attract qualified job candidates and compete with teacher salaries in wealthier areas of the Kansas City metro, making it harder to close achievement gaps.
“It’s one of the things we struggle with and why we fight so hard for equity,” he said. “If we’re serious about closing the achievement gap, then the resources need to be in the places where it’s possible to do that.”
Percent kids currently proficient compared to 2030 goal- CLICK TO EXPAND
Kansas has a goal of significantly boosting math and reading achievement and graduation rates for traditionally disadvantaged and underserved student groups with lower outcomes on those measures —such as black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, students from low-income families and English language learners. The state told the federal government this fall that it wants to close those gaps by 2030.
At the five higher-poverty districts, non-white students make up the majority, with Hispanic and black students being the largest ethnic and racial groups. Sixty-four percent of children in the Liberal district are learning English as a second language, as are 58 percent in Dodge City and 49 percent in Garden City.
“What you’re experiencing is being experienced across the country,” said Patricia Gandara, co-director of UCLA’s Civil Rights Project. “We’ve always had a shortage of highly qualified teachers in the lowest-income schools.”
Gandara said nationwide, districts with more low-income and minority students are more likely to lack resources critical to successful schools.
Bearing the brunt
The Kansas education department began collecting more detailed information on vacancies in the past few years to investigate anecdotal reports that applicant pools were dwindling.
The list of 2017-18 vacancies backs that impression — as well as conclusions last year by a special task force that a relatively small number of urban or remote southwest Kansas school districts are bearing the brunt of the problem. Statewide, 99 percent of teaching jobs are filled.
All but one of Kansas’ public school districts reported their vacancies to the education department this year, as did some private schools and interdistrict centers or similar entities that allow schools to share staff.
Geography likely compounds the problem. Sally Cauble, a Republican who represents 40 western Kansas counties on the Kansas State Board of Education, said districts struggle to attract candidates to the more sparsely populated half of the state, and the implications worry her.
“I believe that children are the future of your state,” Cauble said. “They’re your future workers, your future leaders.”
Schools often fill vacancies with long-term substitutes or teachers certified to teach other subjects, or redistribute students, resulting in larger class sizes. This spring, districts will report to the state how they dealt with this fall’s vacant positions.
Economic effects
The shortage also has implications for Kansas’ aspirations to bolster math and science education amid a national push to better prepare students for college and careers. This fall Kansas middle and high schools came up short about 70 math and science teachers.
“Literacy in all those fields for all people is critically important,” says Steve Case, who leads efforts at the University of Kansas to prepare more math and science teachers. “It drives our economic engine.”
Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson convened the 2016 task force on teacher supply. The panel suggested factors contributing to the situation could include low pay compared to the private sector, lack of mentoring for early-career teachers, low public esteem for the profession and Kansas’ lack of teacher job protections since 2014.
The Kansas State Department of Education doesn’t yet have complete figures on teacher pay for this school year but estimates that it rose more than 4 percent if benefits such as health insurance are included. The increase came amid a boost in state funding for public schools, triggered by pressure from the Kansas Supreme Court.
Though Kansas schools are still filling 99 percent of their instructional jobs, some superintendents across the state say the number of applicants has shrunk, leaving them fewer choices.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
THOMAS COUNTY — A northwest Kansas man was injured in an accident just before 12:30a.m. Saturday in Thomas County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Ford F350 driven by Brent William Beckman, 33, Rexford, was eastbound on County Road Q twelve miles east of Colby.
The truck left the roadway to the right, entered the roadway in a lateral manner, rolled into the north ditch and the driver was ejected.
Beckman was transported to Citizens Medical Center. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the GOP tax bill (all times local):
1:51 a.m.
Busy Friday on the floor of the U.S. Senate-image courtesy CSPAN
The Senate has passed a nearly $1.5 trillion Republican tax bill that’s historic in scope and an urgent political priority for President Donald Trump and the GOP.
The vote was 51-49, largely along party lines. Not a single Democrat voted in favor of the legislation, which was crafted behind closed doors by Senate Republican leaders. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who calls the growing debt a national security threat, joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
The bill lays the bulk of its tax cuts on businesses and higher-earning individuals and gives more modest breaks to others.
It would bring the first major overhaul of the U.S. tax system in three decades. The measure must be reconciled with a version the House passed last month.
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1:35 a.m.
The Senate has voted to eliminate a tax break for a politically-connected conservative college in Michigan.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon proposed the amendment to eliminate the tax break for Hillsdale College in southern Michigan. He noted that Hillsdale has connections to powerful Republicans, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Merkley says, “Isn’t that just the type of insider deal for the wealthy and well-connected that we should oppose?”
The Senate Republicans’ sweeping tax package would impose a new tax on investment income earned by some private universities and colleges.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania added a provision exempting certain colleges that don’t receive federal funds. Democrats say Hillsdale was the only college that would benefit.
Merkley’s amendment was adopted by a 52-48 vote.
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1:20 a.m.
The Senate has given a green light to opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
In a vote early Saturday morning, Republicans rejected an effort led by Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state to block drilling.
The vote was 52-48. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has pushed for oil and gas drilling in the refuge.
Opening the remote refuge to oil and gas drilling is a longtime Republican priority that most Democrats fiercely oppose.
The 19.6-million acre refuge in northeastern Alaska is one of the most pristine areas in the United States and is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.
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12:20 a.m.
The Senate has adopted an amendment that would allow parents to use 529 college funds to pay private school tuition for students in kindergarten through high school.
Parents could also use the tax-exempt funds on home-schooling expenses.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas offered the amendment to Senate Republicans’ sweeping tax package. The vote was a 50-50 tie with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaker.
All Senate Democrats opposed the measure. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only Republicans who voted against it.
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8:20 p.m.
Democrats have taken to the Senate floor to attack a planned amendment to the tax bill that would give a break to a conservative college in Michigan.
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey acknowledged he’d sponsored the language and said Hillsdale College would benefit from it.
Toomey defended Hillsdale as “a wonderful institution” and said other schools might qualify for the tax break, too. His provision would shield schools that receive no federal aid from language in the bill that taxes the investment income of some colleges and universities.
Democrats say Toomey’s provision was written in a way that only Hillsdale would qualify for the reduction. They complain that some well-known conservatives have connections to the school, including Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Hays High used an 11-2 run to start their semi-final game against Great Bend on Friday night. The lead grew as high as 20 for the Indians following runs of 9-0 and 8-2 in the second quarter. A Panther free throw in the final 20 seconds brought the score to 28-9 at half.
Hays shot just 32 percent in the first half, but forced 13 turnovers and held Great Bend to 2 of 20 shooting.
Highlights
Hays never led by less than 17 points the entire second half as they cruise on to a 57-36 victory. The Indians fought through foul trouble in the second half leading by 18 after three quarter 45-25. Hays opened the fourth quarter on a 8-0 run to help put the ball game away.
Coach Kirk Maska
Brooke Denning led the way with four three pointers and a career high 17 points. Four more players scored seven or more points for the Indians. Hays improves to 2-0 on the season and will play the top ranked team in 5A St. Thomas Aquinas for the tournament championship. It is the first championship appearance for the Lady Indians since 2006.
Boys
Hays 82 – Life Prep 52
The Hays High Indians trailed just one time in a thirty point win over Life Prep 82 – 52. The Indians trailed 3-0 then took off on a 11-0 run to take the lead for good. Life Prep never let the Indians get a comfortable lead in the first half with Hays leading 40-32 at half time.
Highlights
Hays outscored Life Prep 42-20 in the second half and moves to 2-0 on the season. The Indians were led by Tradgon McCrae with 16 points. Ethan Nunnery and Peyton Kieffer each scored 11. Cade Swayne chipped in 10.
Coach Rick Keltner
Hays will face William Chrisman in the fourth place game at the middle school at 3:15.
Results of Day 2 of the Gerald Mitchell Hays City Shootout
Girls
Consolation Semi-finals Olathe North 56 – Life Prep 40 TMP 40 – William Chrisman 38
Championship Semi-finals Hays 57 – Great Bend 36 St. Thomas Aquinas 36 – Manhattan 24
Boys
Consolation Semi-finals Hays 82 – Life Prep 52 William Chrisman 58 – TMP 50
Championship Semi-finals Olathe North 71 – Great Bend 37 St. Thomas Aquinas 55 – Manhattan 33
HAYS, Kan. – The Fort Hays State wrestling team took to the mat against rival Central Oklahoma on Friday (Dec. 1). The Tigers fell to the Bronchos in the first MIAA dual of the season for FHSU 22-14.
Conrad Cole made a statement in the first bout of the evening as he upset the fourth-ranked wrestler in the nation in the 125-pound weight class, Joshua Lindsey, with a 16-1 technical fall victory to put the Tigers up 5-0 early. In the second match, Blake Dauphin cut into the FHSU lead with a 6-2 decision over Dy’Juan Carney in the 133-pound class to make the match score 5-3 in favor of the Tigers.
At 141 pounds, second-ranked Brandon Ball increased the Tigers lead to 8-3 in the dual as he defeated Rio Zamora with a 7-0 decision extending his undefeated start to the season in check as he moves to 10-0 in his sophomore season.
In the 149-pound bout, true freshman Brody Lewis dropped his match to Will Steltzlen by a 9-1 major decision as the Bronchos inched a little bit closer to the Tigers as the lead fell to one, 8-7.
Efe Osaghae battled with the #7 ranked wrestler in Division II, Bryan Dutton, until giving up an escape in the fourth overtime period. Dutton won with a sudden victory to give the Bronchos their first lead of the night in the match, 10-8.
In the 165-pound bout, Marty Verhaeghe didn’t hold up against Mason Thompson for long as Thompson pinned Verhaeghe in 1:44 to give the Bronchos a bit of breathing room in the match as they doubled their lead over the Tigers 16-8.
Dylan Wiesner took to the mat in the 174-pound weight class against the eighth-ranked Miguel Barreras to fall short after picking up a few stalling points on Barreras in the third period. Wiesner dropped the bout 8-5 and UCO started to pull away from the Tigers as they now lead 19-8.
The Tigers were not quite done as Micah Felton competed against Ried Rodich in the 184-pound class. Felton held on to the end of the bout to claim a 3-0 decision over Rodich and make the match score 19-11.
Rakim Dean picked up where Felton left off and added a few more points for the Tigers in the 197-pound bout as he squeaked a 6-5 decision by Colton Looper.
In the last bout of the evening, Dakota Gulley took the mat in the 285-pound match. Gulley wasn’t able to overcome an early takedown from fourth-ranked Caleb Cotter as Gulley dropped the bout 6-3 and Central Oklahoma won the match with a final score of 22-14.
The Tigers will take tomorrow off and come back on Sunday (Dec. 3) as they host the annual Bob Smith Open here in Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Open is set to commence at 9 a.m.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The highest court in Kansas has overturned a man’s 2013 kidnapping conviction in Shawnee County District Court after finding the prosecutor improperly commented about the alleged victim’s credibility to jurors.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the prosecutor in the case of Osi Bisa McBride improperly urged the jury to presume the alleged victim was telling the truth, comparing it to the constitutional presumption of innocence given a criminal defendant.
McBride was originally charged with rape, aggravated kidnapping and two counts of criminal sodomy stemming from a 2011 encounter with a woman with whom he had an intermittent romantic relationship.
A jury deadlocked in his first trial. He was convicted on a lesser kidnapping charge in a second trial that also acquitted him of the remaining charges.
HAYS, Kan.-The TMP Lady Monarchs got the offense going early on Friday afternoon at Hays Middle School in the second round of the 35th Annual Gerald Mitchell Hays City Shootout. TMP started the game on a 12-0 run and never trailed. William Chrisman battled back in the second quarter to close the gap to six points. The Lady Monarchs answered with the last eight points of the quarter to take a 22-8 halftime lead.
The TMP offense went a cold in the second half scoring only seven points in the third quarter and held a 29-18 lead after three quarters. TMP would not score for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter and Willam Chrisman took advantage as they were able to take a 32-29 lead late. Kayla Vitztum would score the next five points for TMP and the game was tied at 34 points apiece with just over a minute to play.
Chrisman was not able to convert on the offensive end and Adell Riedel would give TMP the lead for good with a long three on the next possession to put TMP up 37-34. The Lady Monarchs would hit enough free throws down the stretch to pick up the 40-38 victory. With the win TMP evens their record at 1-1 and will face either Olathe North or Life Prep in the third place game Saturday afternoon at 3:15.
Boys: William Chrisman 58, TMP 50
HAYS, Kan-The boys game was a game of runs. TMP started the game on an 8-1 run and were looking impressive. William Chrisman answered with a 15-0 run and would lead 18-14 after the first quarter. The Bears would build a lead as high as 13 points before TMP would close the gap to 37-26 at halftime.
Chrisman pushed their lead to 18 points midway through the third quarter and TMP countered. The Monarchs ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to pull within 12, 50-38. TMP would play to within six points late but the Bears would close the game out from the free throw line and pick up the 58-50 win.
TMP (0-2) will play the Hays/Life Prep loser in the seventh place game at 11:45 Saturday morning at Hays Middle School.
First responders on thee scene of fatal Friday crash in Jackson County -photo courtesy WIBW TV
JEFFERSON COUNTY — Two people died in an accident just after 7a.m. Friday in Jefferson County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Nissan Altima driven by Hannah Rose Stark, 31, Grantville, was northbound on Barton Road.
The driver failed to yield and U.S. 24 and struck an eastbound 1999 Ford Club Wagon that was driven by Gerald A. Baxter, 66, Clay Center on the right side.
The collision caused the driver to lose control and the vehicle rolled several times.
Baxter and a passengers Carla Rene Polson, 65, Blue Rapids, were transported to a hospital in Topeka where they died.
Three others in the Ford including Ruth M. Baxter, 64; Robert Stewart, 61; Barbara Jean Stewart, 61, all of Clay Center were also transported to the hospital in Topeka.
Stark and two children in the Nissan were not injured.
Polson and Ruth Baxter were not wearing seat belts, according the KHP.
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GRANTVILLE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed after a car clipped a van on a highway northeast of Topeka.
The crash happened Friday morning at an intersection along U.S. 24 near Grantville in southwest Jefferson County.
Lt. Adam Winter, of the Kansas Highway Patrol, says the van overturned, killing the driver and a passenger. Their names, ages and genders weren’t immediately released. Four others in the van were taken to a Topeka hospital, including one person flown there with critical injuries.
Winters says none of the three occupants in the car were seriously injured.
Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen and Patrick Stein are charged with domestic terrorism
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The trial of three men accused of plotting to bomb a Kansas mosque and an apartment complex housing Somali refugees has been put off until March.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren partially granted on Friday an unopposed defense request for the delay, setting the trial to begin March 19. The jury trial, which is expected to take about five weeks, had been previously scheduled to start in February.
A defense attorney sought more time to prepare his case, citing the government’s voluminous evidence.
Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiring to detonate truck bombs at an apartment complex in the meatpacking town of Garden City in western Kansas. Wright also faces a separate count for allegedly lying to investigators.
Listen as the ‘Voice of the Chiefs’ Mitch Holthus recaps last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills and previews Sunday’s game at the Meadowlands against the New York Jets.
