WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A California man accused of making a hoax emergency call that resulted in the fatal police shooting of a Kansas man says he regrets the man’s death but he wouldn’t say whether he made the call.
Tyler Barriss is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Dec. 28 death of Andrew Finch at a Wichita home. Police went to the home after receiving a fake report about a shooting and kidnapping at a home. Finch was shot when he opened the door.
During interviews with KWCH-TV Friday and Sunday, Barriss admitted that he had been paid to make other hoax calls in the past. But he declined to answer when asked directly if he was paid to make the call to Wichita. He also expressed remorse over Finch’s death.
TOPEKA – Wildfires throughout Kansas during 2017 have prompted the Kansas Insurance Department staff to encourage the state’s property owners to reduce the risk of home and property loss in the event of wildfire activity during 2018.
“The Kansas Insurance Department stands ready to assist Kansans in insurance-related considerations for wildfire safety,” said Ken Selzer, CPA, Kansas Commissioner of Insurance. “Last year’s devastating fire loss throughout the state was a wake-up call for homeowners and property owners to be proactive in reducing the possibility of damage.”
Commissioner Selzer suggests reviewing the following tips prior to any potential fire activity:
Do a survey of the landscape surrounding your house. Move plants or trees that are too close to your dwelling or burn easily. Clear dead leaves or tree seedlings away from your roof, gutters, decks or fence lines.
Evaluate openings around your house to see if they can be sealed temporarily. This can keep embers from getting into your structure.
Store away patio furniture, decorations or other flammable outdoor material.
Remove landscaping mulch from near your house.
If evacuation is ordered, shut all doors and windows tightly. Decide in advance what type of emergency kit your family would need, including first aid, blankets, personal hygiene items, prescriptions, cell phones and clothing. Turn off the gas to your house and hose it down if you have time.
Keep communication equipment charged and in working order. Be sure your family members know how to contact each other.
Make sure you have accessible copies of your insurance policies, cards and contact numbers.
Wildfire protection tips such as these are available in the booklet “Wildland Fire Action Guide,” developed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fire Administration, Office of the Kansas Fire Marshal, Kansas Forest Service, and the Kansas State University Cooperative Research and Extension.
The guide is available on the website of the Office of the State Fire Marshal at www.firemarshal.ks.gov. Search “Wildland Fire Action Guide.”
The insurance department also sent copies of the booklet to emergency management coordinators in all 105 Kansas counties. Also included in the information to the emergency personnel were copies of the department’s “Personal Home Inventory” booklet and the latest version of the “Auto and Homeowners Insurance.” Both can be downloaded for consumer use at the department’s website, www.ksinsurance.org.
Representatives staffing the insurance department’s Consumer Assistance Hotline, 800-432-2484, can also assistant insurance policyholders who need questions answered or assistance in dealing with coverage or damage claims.
In past week, average statewide gas price rose nine cents to $2.37
TOPEKA – Kansas motorists are paying a lot more at the gas pumps this week. The average gas price across the state rose to $2.37/gallon, a nine-cent increase in the past week. The higher prices continue to buck the usual winter trend of decreasing prices at the gas pumps.
“Normally at this time of year, we experience falling gas prices, but demand has remained higher than expected,” said Shawn Steward, AAA Kansas spokesman. “Crude oil prices have also been fairly high to start 2018. These factors have kept prices at the pump higher than a typical winter.”
Kansas’ average gas price ranks 13th lowest in the United States this week and is 16 cents less than the national average. Of the 10 Kansas cities regularly highlighted by AAA Kansas (see chart below), all saw gas price increases this week, with the largest rises occurring in Lawrence (+16 cents), Kansas City, Kan. (+15), Garden City (+12), Salina (+10) and Wichita (+10).
According to AAA Kansas, this week’s Kansas gas price extremes are:
HIGH: Hill City (Graham County) – $2.62
LOW: Walton (Cherokee County) – $2.24
National Perspective
Nationwide, the average gas price rose four cents to $2.53/gallon, after registering at $2.49 the last two Mondays. The $2.49 average pump price was the highest at the start of a year since 2014.
Late last week, the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) first 2018 petroleum status report showed that despite gasoline demand increasing to 8.8 million b/d on the week, gasoline inventories bubbled up by 4.1 million bbl to measure at 237 million bbl nationally. Total gasoline inventories in the U.S. are now just over 3 million bbl below inventory levels at the same time last year, yet they are 3.4 million bbl above the five-year average. Much of the growth can be attributed to total U.S. refinery utilization holding above 95% last week. However, the high run rate is likely to drop in the coming weeks as demand is expected to drop — impacting how much gasoline is produced — and planned maintenance at some refineries begins.
Location of Monday afternoon quake -image courtesy Kansas Geological Survey
SUMNER COUNTY — A small earthquake shook portions of Kansas Monday.
The quake at 2:21p.m. measured a magnitude 2.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was centered approximately 12 miles northwest of Wellington.
Monday’s quake is the first in Kansas since a 2.5 quake Sunday evening January 7 in Harper County.
There are no reports of damage or injury from Monday’s quake, according to Sumner County 911.
ELLIS—The monthly Ellis St. Mary CYO Community Fried Chicken Dinner will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or until sell out Sunday, Jan. 21 at Ellis Knights of Columbus Hall, 1013 Washington St., Ellis KS 67637
The pan-fried chicken dinner includes mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetable, coleslaw, dinner roll, and dessert.
Cost for children ages 5 through 9 is $5. Cost for those 10 and older is $10.
Anthony “Tony” James Wildeman, 98, died on January 15, 2018, at Cedar Village, Ness City. He was born on July 6, 1919 in Park, Kansas the son of Valentine and Anna Mary Zimmerman Wildeman. He married Dorothy Haffner on August 12, 1940 in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Park, Kansas. To this union four children were born, Kathleen, Robert, Richard, and Gareld. The family came to Trego-Ness County in 1956. They purchased a homestead North of Ransom where they made their home raising wheat and running a Herford herd. Tony also worked as a meat cutter for 32 years, having earned his certification in Denver. Tony retired in 1980 and in 1987 they moved to Ness City.
Tony had a passion for growing things. He enjoyed many aspects of life leaving priceless memories. He was a member of the greatest generation. He had a great spirit and a strong will with a never give-up attitude. He survived the great depression and the strifes of life. He lived his faith, not by words, but by his actions. He was ornery to the end. His grandchildren were priceless to him and his great grandchildren were his pride and joy.
Survivors include Kathy Wendler, Ness City, Robert and Jolenne Wildeman, Colorado Springs, Richard and Shelley Wildeman, Elbert, Colorado, Wynona Wildeman, Warrensburg, Missouri; 10 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and 1 great great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, a son, Gareld, a son in law, Mell Wendler; a grandson in law, Terry Henning; and his best buddy, a great-grandson, Jonathan Henning. Tony was the seventh of 15 children, all have preceded him in death. He taught us to live and showed us how to die. Thanks Dad, for your endless support and love. We were blessed to have you as our dad.
Rosary and Parish Vigil will be on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, 6:30 p.m. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City. Funeral Service will be held on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 10:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Park, Kansas.
Memorial Contributions may be given to the Sacred Heart Cemetery Fund, Park Kansas.
Kansas has set the ambitious goal of seeing 95 percent of its students graduate from high school. FILE PHOTO / SOUTHEAST KANSAS EDUCATION SERVICE CENTER
Today, about three of every 20 students in Kansas fail to graduate from high school. Gov. Sam Brownback contends that in five years, only one will fall short.
That would vault Kansas from the middle of the pack to a level no state in the country hits today.
Education experts question if it’s realistic. The governor and the education department, they say, ask for too much too soon. After all, the early years of school weigh heavily. Work with kids learning their alphabet and colors — as much as those studying capitalism and algebra — can determine later who sticks it out.
And some warn that pushing for too much too fast could backfire.
Still, this week Brownback set the ambitious goal to hit the mark by 2023. The Kansas State Department of Education hopes to reach that 95 percent graduation by 2026.
CLICK TO ENLARGE Note: the black line shows the average national graduation rate for 2015-16. CREDIT STEPHAN BISAHA / EDUCATION WEEK, NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS
“Is it going to be hard? Yes,” said Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson. “I won’t say it was going to be easy, but we do think it’s a realistic, ambitious goal.”
The most recent figures show just shy of 86 percent of Kansas kids get their high school diplomas. That’s slightly above the national average, which is at a record high. Iowa leads the nation at 91.3 percent.
“Without question, it’s going to be a tall order,” says Craig Elliot, the chair of Wichita State University’s District Leadership program.
Experts don’t know what the ceiling is for graduation rates. There will always be some people who don’t graduate, said Russell Rumberger, director of the California Dropout Research Project and a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.
If 95 percent is within reach, he said, it won’t come in the next five years.
“That’s less realistic, I think, to do it in that short amount of time,” says Rumberger.
It’s simply hard to deliver better graduation rates quickly when so many of the factors that make a difference start at the beginning, even preschool.
“That’s not to say there are not things that can be done in high school to get the graduation rate up,” Rumberger said. “I’m just saying to reach a really high number is going to involve more than just changes in high schools.”
A rush to increase the graduation rate too quickly might actually hurt.
Watson, the education commissioner, told the Kansas Board of Regents that a fast upturn in graduation rates might signal the system is being gamed. It could reflect simply reflect a drop in standards — perhaps in response to the pressure to meet an unrealistic goal.
Yet Watson said the target could be reached by 2023, without cheating. By tracking other measures, such as how prepared students are for college, educators can keep the numbers honest.
Whatever happens in classrooms, other factors will weigh heavily. For instance, home and health issues can lead to multiple absences, a strong indicator that a student will dropout.
All those complications make reaching such a high graduation rate difficult. Even large-scale change might not be enough.
“It’s very, very difficult,” said Elaine Allensworth, the director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. “I’m still not sure if you can achieve it.”
Beginning at 1 p.m. Monday, patients seeking care at the HaysMed Convenient Care Walk-in Clinic willtemporarily be seen at the HaysMed Family Medicine Clinic, 2509 Canterbury Drive.
Clinic hours for today are 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The change was necessitated by required maintenance work at the walk-in clinic, which is expected to be completed within a couple of days.
SEWARD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing.
Just before 9p.m. Saturday, officers responded to Southwest Medical Center regarding a victim being stabbed. The victim, a 29 year old male, stated that the attack occurred at his residence in the 700 block of N. Grant in Liberal, according to Police Captain Pat McLurg.
The victim said he was arguing with his roommate, a 21 year old man, when his roommate produced a knife and attacked him.
The victim sustained at least one stab wound and numerous defensive wounds. He was admitted to Southwest Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
Investigators responded to the residence where the attack occurred and identified several witnesses. The evidence at the scene and the witness statements were consistent with the victim’s account.
The suspect was located at a residence in the 200 block of W. 6th Street in Liberal, taken into custody without incident and booked into Seward County Jail.
He is being held for attempted first degree murder, criminal threat and criminal damage to property. He was also arrested on an unrelated warrant for parole violation. An affidavit was forwarded to the Seward County Attorney’s Office seeking formal charges. Police did not release the name of the suspect.
HUTCHINSON —A funeral date is scheduled for a Kansas man killed in Arizona after being shot by a federal officer that occurred on January 5.
The funeral for Tyler Miller, 51, Hutchinson, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday January 16 at Crosspoint Church in Hutchinson and burial will follow at Fairlawn Burial Park.
Miller died following an Arizona shooting involving a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer
The FBI’s Phoenix office reported last week that the U.S. Forest Service officer stopped to help after Miller was in a traffic accident on U.S. 89A in Oak Creek Canyon about 100 miles north of Phoenix.
The agency says the officer was also wounded in a subsequent altercation. Miller was taken to a medical center, where he died.
Family attorney Matt Bretz said Miller apparently lost control of his pickup truck on a mountain road in Coconino National Forest.
