GARDNER, Kan. (AP) — A mother of a slain 2-year-old has filed a lawsuit against the suburban Kansas City girl’s father, his fiancée and the fiancee’s father.
THOMASSON-photo Johnson Co.
The Kansas City Star reports that Stephanie Porting alleges in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that Lindsey Thomasson committed intentional battery as well as negligent physical discipline. Thomasson was caring for Porting’s daughter, Presley, when the girl died in February 2017.
Thomasson has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in Presley’s death. The charge alleges the girl died from child abuse. Presley’s last name has been listed both as Russom and Porting in court documents.
The suit also alleges Presley’s father, Nick Russom, and Thomasson’s father, Michael Thomasson, should have known Thomasson was abusing Presley. The girl lived with Russom and his fiancee in Gardner.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of aggravated robberies and have made an arrest.
Police on the scene of an September robbery investigation in Topeka-photo courtesy WIBW TV
On Thursday, police booked a 17-year-old into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on six counts of aggravated robbery, according to Lt. Jennifer Cross.
The suspect is believed responsible for multiple business robberies including two in July, two in September 7, two in November and one last month.
Kansas entrepreneur Greg Orman formally launched his independent bid for governor recently and in doing so is challenging the two-party structure that has dominated U.S. politics for well over a century.
Orman believes voters are ready to break from the political status quo. They see effective governance threatened by mounting ideological polarization and the tightening grip that special interests hold on the two major parties.
Political scientists have documented through extensive research that party identification—the extent to which an individual voter identifies with one party or another—drives political behavior. Party identification develops through lifelong experience, rarely shifts over time, and mediates how a voter views candidates and issues.
H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University.
Based on this research most political observers believe Orman’s candidacy will hand the gubernatorial election to the Republican nominee for governor, given that Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly two-to-one in Kansas.
To succeed as an independent candidate Orman will have to break the hold that party identification has on voting. He will have to convince both centrist Republicans and pragmatic Democrats to abandon their parties in voting for governor. He will also have to energize those not easily energized—registered voters unaffiliated with any political party—who number over 540,000 in Kansas, 30 percent of the total electorate.
Two-party dominance has been contested in the past, and four Kansas governors have been elected with less than 40 percent of the total vote—a mark Orman sees as achievable and one that would win a competitive three-way race. In those four elections, however, the victors were affiliated with one of the two major political parties.
Voters diverge from party alignment in voting based primarily on two factors: when they feel strongly about a candidate; and when they feel strongly about issues.
Orman has a head start in being known, as a result of his vigorous run for the U.S. Senate seat in 2014. According to surveys last year over half of all voters indicated they had heard of Orman. That number exceeded voter awareness of all other gubernatorial candidates, except for Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Voters may know of Orman but are less certain as to who he is exactly and how they feel about him. In announcing his campaign Orman introduced himself as a family man, a political independent, and a problem-solving businessman guided by facts, rather than party ideology. How well he communicates those qualities and whether voters respond to them will be tested in the campaign.
Orman opened his campaign with a centrist message through unscripted, free-wheeling interviews with state and national media outlets and showed himself adept and articulate in addressing a broad range of issues—particularly for a businessman who has never held political office. He promised definitive policy statements as the campaign progressed.
Orman also quickly demonstrated his seriousness by raising the money required to launch an aggressive statewide campaign. Within a month he assembled from individual donors a campaign chest of $450,000, an amount that exceeds the fundraising of any other candidate, except for Colyer. Orman emphasized that no contribution was taken nor would be accepted from political action committees or lobbyists.
History is not on Orman’s side, but our current political turmoil gives him an opening to bend the arc of history. Kansas voters have not seen a competitive three-way race for governor since the 1930s but should prepare for one this coming November.
H. Edward Flentje is professor emeritus at Wichita State University and formerly served with Kansas Governors Bennett and Hayden.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been charged in a Kansas City, Kansas, stabbing death after she was arrested over the weekend following a disturbance at a Missouri hotel.
Treece-photo Saline Co. Missouri Sheriff
Twenty-eight-year-old Tara Treece, of Kansas City, Kansas, is awaiting extradition to Wyandotte County, Kansas, where she is charged with second-degree murder and criminal use of a weapon. Prosecutors say in a news release that she is accused of killing 32-year-old Megan Hernandez last month.
Treece was taken into custody Sunday at a Marshall, Missouri, hotel, on suspicion of disturbing the peace. Marshall police say officers were at the hotel waiting for a warrant when staff reported that Treece was “being violent in her room and throwing items into the walls.” No attorney is listed for her in online court records.
Stephen J. Zerr Sr. died Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018 at Citizens Medical Center in Colby.
He was born March 28, 1927 in Sheridan County. He was a retired plumber.
He was preceded in death by a grandson.
Survivors include wife Louella B. Zerr of Colby; son Stephen J. Zerr of Levant, daughters Maxine A. Adams and Karen S. Adams, both of Colby; sister Helen Normandan of Colby; six grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
Mass will be at 10 :30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 12 at St Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Hoxie with Fr. Vincent Thu Laing officiating.
Visitation will be 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11 at Kersenbrock Funeral Chapel in Colby. Rosary will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at Kersenbrock Chapel.
Burial will be in St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Cemetery in Hoxie.
Memorials will be designated at a later date in care of the funeral home.
The Kansas Wetlands Education Center will host a “celebrating birds” program – a free, one-hour program – from 10 to 11 a.m.Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center.
The KWEC, 592 NE K-156 Highway, is at the southeast side of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, northeast of Great Bend.
Celebrate birds by making an edible birdhouse feeder and participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Binoculars will be provided for those who don’t bring their own. Dress appropriately, as the bird count will take place outdoors. Donations for supplies are appreciated.
The program is designed for children ages 6 through 12. Children aged 7 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.
Pam Martin, KWEC and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism education specialist, will lead the program.
PRATT— Officials with the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s office continue to investigate the cause of the fatal January 25 fire in Pratt.
Eggleson -photo courtesy Larison Mortuary
Five people died as a result of the fire at a home in the 200 Block of Austin. Charee Eggleson, 23, suffered burns and was flown from Pratt to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. She died January 27.
Her four children, the youngest a baby, died after being trapped in the home’s basement. Several other adults survived the fire.
The State Fire Marshal’s investigative team is still following information and awaiting lab results before making an official determination on the cause of the fire, according to a media release from the State.
John Vyrl Slagle, age 81, died Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at the Ness County Hospital, Ness City. He was born on August 27, 1936 in Jetmore, Kansas the son of John M. and Martha Lucille Grumbein Slagle.
Vyrl was a member of the United Methodist Church, Ness City, the Isis Shrine, and he was a Mason. He was a former Fire Chief and a GMC, Pontiac, Allis Chalmers, and Gleaner dealer all in Ness City.
On June 15, 1958 he married Mary Elizabeth “Beth” Dinsmore in Ness City, Kansas. She survives of the home. Other survivors include his mother, Lucille Slagle, Ness City; two daughters, Tracy Proctor and her husband, Steve of Ness City and Verla King and her husband, Scott of Olmitz; two grandchildren, Devon King and Raegan King and her fiancé, Cole McCurry; and a step-grandson C.J. Proctor.
Funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2018, 10:30 A.M. at the United Methodist Church, Ness City. Burial in the Ness City Cemetery. Friends may call at Fitzgerald Funeral Home, Ness City on Friday from 9:00 A.M. until 9:00 P.M. with the family present from 6:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M.
Memorial contributions may be given to the Ness County Fire Department, District #1.
Lucas G. Ernst, 35, of Ellis, KS, passed away on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 in Ellis, KS.
A memorial visitation will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2018 from 1-3:00 PM at Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel & Crematory, 2509 Vine St., Hays, KS 67601.
A complete obituary is pending. To share a memory or to leave condolences, please visit Lucas’s memorial webpage at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com.
The Kansas Wetlands Education Center will host a “celebrating birds” program – a free, one-hour program – from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center.
The KWEC, 592 NE K-156 Highway, is at the southeast side of Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, northeast of Great Bend.
Celebrate birds by making an edible birdhouse feeder and participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Binoculars will be provided for those who don’t bring their own. Dress appropriately, as the bird count will take place outdoors. Donations for supplies are appreciated.
The program is designed for children ages 6 through 12. Children aged 7 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.
Pam Martin, KWEC and Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism education specialist, will lead the program.
To register, or for more information, call the KWEC at 1-877-243-9268. The registration deadline is Feb. 14. Additional information can be found at wetlandscenter.fhsu.edu/events/event/celebrate-birds-winter-kids-program/.
DICKINSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting.
Dickinson County Sheriff Gareth Hoffman confirms his Department is investigating a Wednesday evening shooting from a motor vehicle into another motor vehicle. No one was injured.
Just before 9p.m. Wednesday, a vehicle northbound in the 3300 Block of Rain Road at a high rate of speed came up behind another vehicle and the moved into the passing lane, according to Dickinson County Sheriff Gareth Hoffman.
The vehicle traveled in the passing lane next to the other vehicle and then someone fired a single shotgun round through the driver’s side rear window of the slower car.
Hoffman said the victim was a western Geary County resident who was traveling through Dickinson County at the time of the incident. No motive is known at this time.
Farmers, make plans to attend an update on growing corn and grain sorghum offered by the Cottonwood Extension District in Hays on Wednesday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Extension Office meeting room in Hays, 601 Main. There will be a free noon meal.
Extension agronomy specialist will discuss production practices for corn & sorghum such as seeding rates, row spacing, hybrid selection and as always there will be time for your questions and answers.
RSVPs are requested for the meal count by Tuesday, Feb. 12, at noon. Call the Cottonwood Extension Office at 785-628-9430 or email Theresa at [email protected].
