WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man accused of making a hoax emergency call that led to the fatal police shooting of an unarmed man has been returned to Kansas.
Sedgwick County jail records show 25-year-old Tyler Barriss was booked into the jail Thursday on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, giving false alarm and interference with a law enforcement officer.
His bond was set at $500,000.
Barriss had been held in the Los Angeles County jail since he was arrested Dec. 28 in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors allege Barriss made a call Dec. 28 with a fake story about a shooting and kidnapping that led Wichita police to a home where 28-year-old Andrew Finch was shot and killed after opening his door.
Barris has a history of making such hoax calls, which are sometimes called “swatting.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman who embezzled more than $200,000 from her Sedgwick County employer was sentenced to five years of probation and must make restitution.
The Sedgwick County district attorney said 36-year-old Misty Leiker, of Maize, was sentenced Wednesday for embezzling from ERI Solutions in Colwich. She pleaded guilty earlier to felony theft, computer crime and unlawful use of a financial card.
Prosecutors say Leiker, who was an accountant at the firm, used a company credit card account to make $209,666 in unauthorized purchases such as antiques, tools and household items between June 2016 and April 2017.
Leiker could serve nearly three years in prison if she violates her probation. She made an initial payment of $15,000 toward restitution Wednesday and was ordered to make a minimum monthly payment of $500.
The Fort Hays State University Music Department’s Sinfonietta will be playing an outreach performance at the Hays Public Library, 1205 Main, on Friday, January 19th, 2018 at 1:30 p.m.
Shah Sadikov, Music Director and Conductor of the Hays Symphony Orchestra, will talk about the upcoming Cottonwood International Festival Concert and masterclasses that will be open to the public.
There will be tickets and an informational display at the performance.
We hope to see you there!
This performance is considered an outreach performance in conjunction with the Cottonwood International Festival which will be happening later in the month: January 25th & 26th Masterclasses that are open to the public, culminating in a final concert Saturday, January 27th at 7:30p.m.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer raised more money than any candidate in the 2018 elections for governor, including Kris Kobach, who is generally considered the front-runner in the GOP race.
Campaign finance reports show Colyer, a Republican, raised $632,068 in 2017. In campaign finance reports filed Wednesday, Kobach reported raising $354,732. Two other GOP candidates, Wichita businessman Willis Hartman and Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, reported having more money but both men made substantial personal contributions to their campaigns.
Greg Orman, a Johnson County businessman who is running as an independent, reported raising $452,931, mostly from outside contributions.
Former Rep. Josh Svaty of Ellsworth led fundraising in the Democratic race, with $192,545. Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, who entered the race less than three weeks ago, reported raising $155,691.
Thursday morning business in the U.S. House of Representatives- photo courtesy CSPAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a confusing morning of tweets by President Donald Trump, the House on Thursday passed a bill to reauthorize a key foreign intelligence collection program with an important tweak: It would require the FBI to get a warrant if it wants to view the contents of Americans’ communications swept up in the process.
Legislation to renew the program that allows spy agencies to conduct surveillance on foreign targets abroad passed the House 256-164 and now heads to the Senate. Trump has said he will sign the bill, which would extend the program for six years.
“House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.” This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats calls this foreign intelligence the “holy grail” that provides insight into the thinking and actions of U.S. adversaries. However, the program, which is to expire on Jan. 19, also sweeps up Americans’ communications.
Privacy advocates and some lawmakers from both parties want to require the FBI to get a warrant if it wants to query or view the content of Americans’ communications that are in the database to build domestic crime cases.
The bill passed by the House would allow the FBI to continuing querying the database, using search terms, for information on Americans, but would require investigators to get a probable cause warrant if they want to view the actual content of those communications.
Earlier, the House rejected a measure that would have imposed stiffer restrictions on the FBI. It would have required the FBI to get a warrant to continue even querying the database where Americans’ communications are involved.
Trump’s morning tweets caused confusion in advance of the House vote.
One of his tweet suggested that the foreign intelligence program was used to collect information that might have been used to taint his campaign. Afterward, Trump had a phone call with House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to a Republican familiar with the call but not allowed to publicly discuss private discussions.
A short time later, Trump changed his tone on Twitter. “This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land,” he tweeted. “We need it! Get smart!”
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top-ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said Trump’s tweets were “inaccurate, conflicting and confusing.” He suggested that a vote on the bill should be delayed, but it went forward.
The president appeared to contradict the position of his own administration. In one tweet, he linked the FISA program that his White House supports to a dossier that alleges his campaign had ties to Russia. That caught aides and lawmakers off guard. A short time later, he went further.
“‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today,'” Trump wrote, citing a Fox News headline. “This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?”
Last year, Trump accused the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign. He never cited any evidence, and top intelligence and FBI officials as well as Republicans in Congress swiftly rejected the accusations as false.
Trump’s position Thursday morning seemed to be in opposition to the Trump administration’s position, potentially putting the reauthorization vote in doubt. His tweets came shortly after a “Fox and Friends” segment that highlighted the FISA program. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has also made the television rounds in recent days, has pushed for less invasive spying measures.
The tweets sent White House aides scrambling to explain the apparent about-face. The president’s reversal was yet another example of him seemingly taking cues from television, particularly the morning Fox News show, while also personalizing an issue, in this case the dossier, over a policy position.
There are no obvious links between the dossier and the reauthorization of the spying program, but Trump has repeatedly denounced the document in recent days. The president has said that his campaign and Trump Tower was spied on by the Obama administration, calling the former president a “bad (or sick) guy!” He has offered no proof for such claims.
The FBI and intelligence agencies say being able to query the database is essential to keeping America safe and the Trump administration had wanted the program to be reauthorized without change.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that tips are flooding into the FBI by the thousands. It’s at this initial stage — where leads are sifted and prioritized — when foreign intelligence can be queried to help connect dots and spot possible national security threats, he said.
In a recent speech, Wray said: “I’m going to say this over and over and over again. Every court to look at 702 and the way it’s been used, including the FBI queries, have found it fully consistent with the Fourth Amendment.”
Kimberly Ann Winder-Ellison, 46, Osawatomie Ks, died Friday, December 29th 2017 in her home. She was born August 27, 1971 in Osborne Ks, to Bruce Winder and Carol Werth.
Kim loved her family and friends dearly. Kim’s children were her life. She dreamed of bigger and better things for each one of them. She was looking forward to traveling and exploring new places. Kim’s second passion was her work as a nurse. It was her dream job. Her supportive nature and how she was always helping others played a significant role in her career. She had just accepted a promotion as Director of Nurses at her job in Ottawa Ks. She was a caring person that had an abundance of love for everyone.
Kim is survived by her children, Michael Ellison, Kyle Ellison, Hunter Ellison and Harley Ellison all of Osawatomie; Her mother, Carol Werth of Schoenchen, KS; her father, Bruce Winder of Osborne, KS; her siblings, Rebecca Mead of Russell, Bryan Werth of WaKeeney, Bruce Auer of Hays, Mona Legleiter of Hays, Amy Winder of Schoenchen, Krisda Winder of Joplin, MO, Jalea Winder of Joplin, Molly Werth of Schoenchen, Brenna Trowbridge of Eudora, KS; her grandchildren, Jaylnn and Bristol of Osawatomie and a special friend, Mike Fields of Schoenchen.
Kim was preceded in death by her Daddy Ron Werth; brother Bruce Daniel Winder and her maternal and paternal grandparents.
Funeral services will be 11 AM Monday, January 15, 2018 at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Schoenchen, Kansas. Private family inurnment will be at a later date.
Arrangements in care of Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory 2509 Vine Hays, KS 67601.
Condolences may be left by guest book at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or by email at [email protected]
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Latest on Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens acknowledging he cheated on his wife but denying blackmail allegations (all times local):
11 a.m.
A hairdresser who, according to her ex-husband, was having an affair with Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens sent the Republican an email asking him to stop booking appointments at the salon where she worked.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the email was sent Oct. 20, 2015, three weeks after Greitens filed papers formally starting his 2016 gubernatorial campaign. It was sent to the same account that Greitens listed on a website he used in the campaign.
The newspaper doesn’t say how it obtained the email.
She asked Greitens, whom she called by his first name, to “please consider all who are involved and the circumstances around us.” She said returning to the salon “isn’t fair to me, nor anyone close to us” and that she needed to “move forward.”
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Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens acknowledges he was “unfaithful” in his marriage but denies allegations that he blackmailed the woman he had an extramarital affair with to stay quiet.
The Republican governor and his wife released a statement Wednesday night. It came after St. Louis television station KMOV reported that Greitens had a sexual relationship with his former hairdresser in 2015. The station reported that the woman’s ex-husband alleged Greitens photographed her nude and threatened to publicize the images if she spoke about the affair.
The woman allegedly involved did not comment on the record to the station, which released its report late Wednesday after Greitens gave his State of the State speech. But her ex-husband provided a recording of her detailing a sexual encounter with Greitens and saying Greitens told her the photos would be released if she exposed the affair. She did not know she was being recorded.
Greitens’ statement with his wife, Sheena, didn’t address the affair specifically or the allegations, but in a separate statement Greitens’ attorney, Jim Bennett, said, “There was no blackmail and that claim is false.”
Outgoing Hays City Commissioner Lance Jones wasn’t expecting to make a speech at Monday night’s meeting, but he did.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the city commission,” Jones said. “It’s kind of bittersweet. I hate to leave but it also opens up the next chapter of my life. I’m going back to school, broadening myself, and concentrating on my civilian job for awhile.”
He thanked his fellow commissioners for their support of him as a new commissioner. “You’ve taught me more than you can ever imagine,” Jones said to longtime commissioner Henry Schwaller.
In turn, Schwaller praised Jones. “You never took ‘no’ for an answer. Sunday sales of alcohol (for example). That failed once. You moved ahead. That persistence and your engagement, those are the keys to success in life.”
“I do think all the commissioners up here think of community first,” Jones added.
Jones also thanked city staff and employees. “This is such a well-run city. As commissioners we don’t get the emails and phone calls you’d think we would. I attribute that to the city being so well-run. Part of what I ran on was being a ‘money man’ and being able to dig deep into the budgets. We as commissioners can critique the budget, but city staff has already done that. They’ve cut excess expenses. When you’re paying cash for a $4 million street project, that’s a tribute to what the staff and departments do.”
Jones was given a commemorate plaque with a key to the city, thanking him for serving from April 2015 to January 2018, nearly three years on the Hays city commission.
New Hays Mayor James Meier thanks City Commissioner Shaun Musil for his 16 months service as mayor.
Shaun Musil was also presented a commemorative gavel for serving as mayor. James Meier, previously the vice-mayor, was chosen to serve as mayor while Henry Schwaller was selected as vice-mayor.
Chris Dinkel, who won the seat vacated by Jones, was sworn into office along with Musil and Sandy Jacobs.
The State of the State address is finished and the governor has left Republican legislators near tears and Democratic legislators scratching their heads. The leaders have appeared in front of the journalists to declare that big problems remain over school finance again, Medicaid expansion again, KPERS solvency again and refilling depleted transportation infrastructure accounts again.
Dr. Mark Peterson
Pundits assert that 2018 will be a very significant year as Kansans will pick a new governor, test the Republican hold on two out of four congressional seats and elect a new state House of Representatives. There will be declarations that policy solutions will go begging because of competitive clashes between candidates, incumbents and interests. And whatever happens everyone must disavow further tax increases.
As this news is spilling out, facts will be glossed over or unmentioned because they don’t have the sizzle and sound-bite qualities that get peoples’ attention. The most important of these difficult facts involve the multi-year chasm that has been created by reduced revenue and resulting failures to provide previously enacted services to Kansans.
In December the Kansas Legislative Research Department issued “Kansas Tax Facts: 2017 Supplement to the Eighth Edition.” (www.kslegislature.org/klrd) In this official, non-partisan and unembellished document you can discover that over the last 12 years state tax revenues have increased at a rate of 1.4% per year. In the same time period the annual change in the Consumer Price Index was about 2%. In other words, even at these very low rates of increase, Kansas’s revenue receipts for state government ran about 30% behind the year-to-year increase in the cost of goods and services.
Inflation aside, there are additional factors. Consider the slow increase in public school students, and the much more dramatic increase in numbers of elderly — both of which drive big chunks of the state’s general fund budget. Since the 2006-07 school year the state Department of Education K-12 headcount has grown from 496,000 to approximately 519,000 or 23,000 school children. It’s a modest 4.5% increase but even at our judicially disapproved level of insufficient school funding, that increase represents nearly $90 million more annual cost than existed 12 years ago.
The governor’s Budget Division tracks the state’s changing demographics and includes that data in the governor’s annual budget message to the legislature – again an easily accessible internet resource. What that data shows is much more dramatic growth in the age 65+ population than in the school population. In 2006 there were 140,000 fewer elderly than K-12 children in the state. Today, there are roughly 450,000 Kansans age 65 and older, just 69,000 fewer that the public school population.
Demographers predict persons 65 and over will exceed the number of juveniles here in Kansas by mid-century. The change in these past 12 years suggests those estimates are conservative. Over 90% of these elderly receive Social Security benefits and according to 2014 data, 29% of them live at or below two times the federal poverty level or lower. These Kansans will need Medicaid subsidized nursing care in large numbers. Even many currently above this arbitrary level are likely to need such assistance in their final years, if national trends hold.
These are realities that must be dealt with this year in Topeka and for years to come. Choking the flow of tax revenue compounded problems that were already growing. These cuts in effect defunded nearly $2 billion in programs and services enacted before the Brownback Administration took office. Just getting back to parity with those commitments and then coping with our looming challenges will require the public to know the facts, stay anchored in reality and demand effective accountable decisions from our leaders.
Dr. Mark Peterson teaches political science at the college level in Topeka.
Judy Ann (Blackburn) Phillips, age 68, of WaKeeney, passed away Thursday, January 4, 2018 at her home in WaKeeney. She was born November 15, 1949, in Hays, Kansas, to William Frederick and Leona Lorene (Shubert) Blackburn.
Judy was a 1967 graduate of Ellis High School and attended Fort Hays State University. On September 1, 1967, she was united in marriage to Albert Lynn Phillips, in McPherson, Kansas. She wasn’t afraid of any type of work or challenge. She worked several professions including housewife, mother and grandmother, Scale operator at Farmer’s Grain of Ellis, Rancher, and would retire as the Director of Communications at the Trego County Dispatch Center.
Judy was in her 40th year of sobriety and mentored many in their paths to sobriety during her lifetime. Judy was the queen of pinochle and found much joy in teaching the game to others. She spent many hours of her life on the Saline River north of Ellis. Judy enjoyed shooting photos of nature and wildlife, using those photos and her poetry to create greeting cards. Judy loved to cook and shared her secret recipes with her granddaughters. Her sense of humor and laughter were infectious and recognized by all.
Survivors include her husband Bert; son, Travis (Monique) Phillips of WaKeeney; daughter, Nikki (Steven) Hausler of Ellis; grandchildren, Cheyenne (Zack) Ewing, Shawnee Phillips, and Dani Jo Hausler; brother, Wayne Walz of Plainville; sister, Peggy Blackburn of Ellis; numerous nieces and nephews; and her special little service dog, Nellie. She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Delores Elliot and Diane Langley; and son-in-law, Todd Joseph Schmidt.
Family hosted memorial services will be 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 13, 2018 at Ellis United Methodist Church.
Memorial contributions are suggested to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude PL, Memphis, TN 38105 or Hospice Services, Inc., 424 8th St, Phillipsburg, KS 67661.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that you bring a rock to the service to symbolize the “rock” Judy was to so many and to honor the love Judy had for rocks.
PRATT — Paintings and photographs by Kansas-connected artists are sure to take the breath away of viewers at the Vernon Filley Art Museum in Pratt. Opening reception is 6 p.m. on Friday.
Eufloria, a guest exhibition of flowers portrayed in painting by artist Michael Jilg and in pictures by photographer Leon Staab, is the next show at the Vernon Filley Art Museum, 421 S. Jackson. A special opening reception is planned for 6 p.m. Friday when the public can meet the artists and enjoy wine/beer and appetizers at the Filley.
“The paintings and images are breath-taking in person,” said museum director Brittany Novotny. “It’s my understanding that Staab’s wife suggested these two artists combine their work and travel together and it’s been a wildly popular exhibit at other art museums and galleries so far.”
Jilg is a native Kansas painter and print-maker with degrees from Fort Hays State University and Wichita State University. He returned to FHSU as a teacher in 1981 and had since blended his research and love of travel to unmask the mysteries of history and its layers of civilization. Though Kansas remains his home, he has global ties to the art world with over 200 exhibitions and representations in museum collections in the United States, England and Asia.
Staab was born in Hays and also earned degrees in German, Russian and Journalism from Fort Hays State University. He pursued graduate studies in Germany and Austria before returning to Hays where he opened Pioneer Photography, a full service portrait studio. His shop closed in 2014 but he continues to devote his time to working on fine art photographic projects.
Eufloria, the exuberant flower images of Jilg and Staab, will be on display at the Vernon Filley Art Museum from January 12 to April 14.
