TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka attorney has filed a lawsuit alleging Shawnee County is violating the rights of an inmate being kept in custody on an immigration detainer.
Perez-Ramirez -photo Shawnee County
David Alegria contends the county has held Elidio Perez-Ramirez longer than allowed by law. He is seeking Perez-Ramirez’s immediate release and unspecified compensation.
The lawsuit names the county corrections department, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Shawnee County counselor Jim Crowl said Wednesday the federal government gave the corrections department valid documentation directing it to hold Perez-Ramirez.
The lawsuit says Perez-Ramirez was convicted in May of two misdemeanors involving sexual battery and sentenced to probation. Although he was ordered released May 14, jail official said they will detain him indefinitely until federal officials pick him up or release him.
WELLINGTON, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man is charged with murder in the death of a woman who was the mother of his son.
Aue- photo Sumner Co.
32-year-old Bradley Aue is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree reckless murder in the May 24 death of Sierra Craft-McGee in Wellington.
A criminal complaint alleges Aue hit Craft-McGee several times and pushed her into a window, severing an artery and causing cuts throughout her body. He also allegedly didn’t obtain timely medical attention for the victim.
MANHATTAN — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an attack on a teen and asking the public for help to locate a suspect.
Approximately location of the attack- google image
Just after 1:00 p.m. Thursday, officers with the Riley County Police Department responded to the report of a battery on Linear Trail near Richards Drive, according to RCPD spokesperson Hali Rowland.
Preliminary information gathered by investigators suggests there was one male attacker who battered a lone female runner.
The 15 year-old victim suffered a head injury. She was transported to Via Christi for treatment. The suspect has not been apprehended at this time. The investigation is ongoing. We ask citizens to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings. If you witness any suspicious activity or persons, please contact RCPD immediately.
If anyone has information about this crime, please contact the Riley County Police Department at (785) 537-2112 or Crime Stoppers at (785) 539-7777. Using the Crime Stoppers service allows you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.00.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita woman has been sentenced to 10 ½ years in prison for a knife attack that severely injured her 90-year-old grandfather and an attack on her 52-year-old mother.
Telford-Sedgwick Co.
26-year-old Kerri Telford pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in the February 2017 attack on her mother. She pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder in the August 2017 stabbing of her grandfather.
Authorities say Telford was living with her grandfather when she assaulted him with a kitchen carving knife with a six-inch blade. A police affidavit says she blamed “the voices” for the attack.
Telford was released from a mental health treatment center a few days prior to the attack.
The policy allows some young immigrants to pay the lower tuition rates reserved for legal Kansas residents. The law has split Republicans since its enactment in 2004. The only other major gubernatorial candidate supporting its repeal is GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer.
Democratic and independent candidates said the law helps young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Kobach is secretary of state and previously built a national profile as an advocate of tough national, state and local policies against illegal immigration. He also has advised President Donald Trump.
Two of the nation’s most influential players in agriculture policy, at a meeting in the heart of the country’s Grain Belt on Wednesday, tried to ease worries about the pending farm bill and a budding trade war with China.
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue speak at a farm meeting outside Manhattan on Wednesday. STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
In a meeting outside Manhattan, Kansas, Republican and U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts said a bipartisan farm bill looks within reach by the middle of June.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran joined him in an old stone barn for the farm meeting, where they defended a tough trade stance and said dueling tariffs aren’t inevitable.
Meantime, lawmakers in Washington are squabbling over how to craft a farm bill. Roberts said a proposal in the U.S. House, which carries stricter work requirements for recipients of federal food aid, can’t pass the Senate.
“It’s a pretty good bill and I hope they pass it, but I can’t do that,” he told reporters after the meeting. “We can do some good things in the farm bill with regard to SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrional Assistance Program) without doing any damage to the program.”
Negotiations over the farm bill — about 80 percent of it is SNAP; other major things include commodity supports and conservation efforts — often are a slog. The 2013 bill took an extra year to pass.
The current farm bill expires Sept. 30. The U.S. House already voted down the measure when the conservative Freedom Caucus insisted this month a vote on immigration come first, while Democrats opposed the SNAP work-requirement changes.
Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall told High Plains Public Radio last week that the House doesn’t plan to change anything in the bill before bringing it back to the floor June 22. The Senate has yet to offer its version of the farm bill, though a North Dakota senator has said they’ll start working on the bill in committee next week.
Roberts said that details of the bill hadn’t been finalized, but Senate leaders had agreed to allow a path forward for the legislation. He said New York’s Chuck Schumer, the leader of Senate Democrats, promised not to use a parliamentary rule known as cloture to jam up the process.
“That’s amazing,” Roberts said. “This is a time when if a jackrabbit hopped across the floor of United States Senate, Chuck Schumer would either shoot it or file cloture on it.”
Roberts, Moran and Perdue said they had stressed to President Donald Trump the importance of international markets to agricultural and manufactured goods exported from Kansas.
Perdue said farmers have had legitimate anxiety after a “roller coaster” of trade negotiations with China.
Reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement has been in the works for months. Trade became a significant issue for farmers in late March and early April, when the Trump administration proposed an escalating series of tariffs on Chinese goods. China responded in kind. China said it would target pork, beef, fruit, nuts and sorghum. Sorghum is becoming a major crop in Great Plains states such as Kansas.
Perdue said farmers should stay cool during the ups and downs as the administration works on boosting U.S. exports to China.
“President Trump … has a unique and very effective negotiating style,” Perdue said. “At the end of the day, farmers are going to be very happy over the trade additions that we see in China.”
Moran said he and others have been trying to persuade Trump to try strategies beyond a trade war, such as forming other international trade partnerships that can then collectively put pressure on China.
“Yes, China is a problem,” Moran said. “They cheat, they misbehave. They don’t follow the rules, but the solution is not a broad tariff battle.”
Moran said he’s told the president that industries including agriculture need international trade markets such as China.
“I hope this is a negotiating tactic that works,” Moran said, “but the risks are tremendous if we don’t get it right.”
Due to an editing error, this story originally identified Chuck Schumer as representing the wrong state.
RILEY COUNTY — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue attend the Agriculture Roundup Wednesday at River Creek Farms near Manhattan. He met with farmers and held a forum with Governor Jeff Colyer.
In Kansas for an Agriculture Roundup with Senate Ag Chairman @SenPatRoberts & Sen. @JerryMoran. My first trip to Kansas as Secretary and 39th state visited since taking office. Great meeting folks in the Sunflower State. pic.twitter.com/xxbMJVjCiX
— Sec. Sonny Perdue (@SecretarySonny) May 30, 2018
They discussed the controversial farm bill with Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and Senator Jerry Moran. It was Perdue’s first trip to Kansas.
Really appreciated the chance to visit with fine leaders for Kansas and America in @SenPatRoberts and Sen. @JerryMoran. Beautiful country and squarely in the Heartland of our great nation. pic.twitter.com/rbepVdgxLq
— Sec. Sonny Perdue (@SecretarySonny) May 30, 2018
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears will close another 72 stores as sales plunge and losses grow.
The Sears at Westridge Mall in Topeka will close later this year, according to a media release from the retailer- Google image
The beleaguered retailer said that it has identified about 100 stores that are no longer turning a profit.
The retailer released the full list of stores and planned closing dates on Thursday afternoon.
Sears lost $424 million, or $3.93 per share, for the period ended May 5. It earned $245 million, or $2.29 per share, a year earlier, a quarter that included a $492 million gain tied to the sale of the Craftsman brand.
Revenue tumbled more than 30 percent to $2.89 billion, with store closings already underway contributing to almost two thirds of the decline.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, tumbled 11.9 percent. Comparable-stores sales slid 9.5 percent at Kmart stores, and 13.4 percent at Sears.
The one-time powerhouse retailer that survived two world wars and the Great Depression has been calving off pieces of itself as it burns through money.
Kenmore, the retailer’s appliance brand, became the latest potential sale after ESL Investments, the company’s largest shareholder, headed by Sears Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, said it might be interested in buying it.
Lampert, who combined Sears and Kmart in 2005 after helping to bring the latter out of bankruptcy, has long pledged to save the famed retailer, which started in the 1880s as a mail-order catalog business.
Shares of Sears Holdings Corp., based outside of Chicago in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, fell more than 4 percent before the opening bell Thursday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced that Southwest Baptist University has formally withdrawn from the conference and accepted an invitation from the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The departure is effective August 1, 2019.
“We are disappointed to see Southwest Baptist leave the MIAA. They have been an outstanding representative of our conference since they joined the MIAA in 1986,” stated MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy. “We appreciate that SBU leadership has kept the conference informed about their membership study this past year, and we support SBU’s efforts to do what they believe is best for their programs and student-athletes. We wish them well and much success in the GLVC.”
Last January, the MIAA CEO Council appointed two task forces to take a strategic look at important issues facing the MIAA. One task force is working on football-related issues, including a study of various scheduling models to help strengthen MIAA football programs. The other task force is exploring membership issues, including the development of tools to help communicate the mission, alignment and value of the MIAA for member institutions and communities. “In an ever-changing climate in college athletics, the MIAA is committed to being proactive, resourceful and innovative in order to maintain our reputation as one of the most successful conferences in the NCAA,” Racy added.
Since being founded in 1912, the MIAA has a rich tradition of success with 42 National Team Championships and hundreds of student-athletes recognized as Academic All-Americans in their sports. The MIAA competes in the NCAA Central Region and has member institutions based throughout Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
This Friday’s Ellis County Relay for Life will be in a new location at the Downtown Pavilion.
10th Street will be closed to traffic from Main Street east to Oak Street to give participants plenty of room to mingle and visit.
Luminaries will outline the walking path.
The event runs 7 p.m. to midnight. The survivor’s lap will begin at 7:30 p.m. after a welcome and opening ceremonies. Brenda Meder, director of the Hays Arts Council, will emcee the event.
Luminaries will be lit about 9:30 p.m.
Light up the Bricks T-shirts will be available for purchase. Massages from FHSU/H2O massage students will be available for freewill donations.
Relay for Life has raised money for the American Cancer Society since 1999. Donations pay for research, education, transportation, wigs and lodging through Hope Lodges across the country.
This year’s local goal is $35,000.
Lonny Claycamp, Relay volunteer, has been battling bone cancer for 10 years. When Claycamp and his wife can’t get into a Hope Lodge when Lonny has to travel to New York for treatment, the bills add up quickly. Their last trip for treatment cost about $6,000.
The Relay is open to the public, so if you happen to be downtown Friday night and wish to participate, you are welcome.
Donations can still be made on the night of the event or online by going to the Relay for Life website.
Luminaries in honor or memory of someone who has had cancer are $10.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican running for Kansas governor has named his wife as his running mate.
Former state Sen. Jim Barnett announced Thursday that Rosemary Hansen is his choice for lieutenant governor. She and the previously divorced Topeka physician married in September.
Washburn University of Topeka political scientist Bob Beatty says he knows of no other instance of spouses on the same ticket in Kansas.
Hansen has served 26 years as a foreign service agent for the U.S. State Department, including in Washington and embassies in Germany, Bosnia, and Afghanistan.
Barnett says Hansen has traveled 70,000 miles with him in Kansas over the past 22 months, starting before his campaign launched.
She holds a master’s degree in public administration. Barnett says her knowledge will help them make state government more efficient.
SALINE COUNTY — Two people were injured in an accident just after midnight Thursday in Saline County.
Motorcycle in Thursday morning Saline County crash-photo courtesy Saline County Sheriff.
Sheriff Roger Soldan reported a 2006 Harley Davidson 1200 driven by Jacob Linder 27, Abilene was traveling in the 5600 Block of East Old 40 Highway.
The motorcycle veered off the road and struck a delineator post.
Linder and a passenger Brittany Wright, 29, Abilene were transported to the hospital in Salina. They were not wearing helmets, according to Soldan. Linder was being treated for a head injury and Wright for cuts and scrapes, according to Soldan.
Alcohol is a possible factor in the accident, according to Soldan.
BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the a drug overdose death and have three suspects in custody.
Kuester-photo Barton Co.
Just after 11p.m. Wednesday, detectives executed a search warrant at a local motel at 3200 10th Street in Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.
During an investigating into the death of a 31-year-old Great Bend man from a suspected methamphetamine overdose, authorities received information that allowed detectives to secure a search warrant for two motel rooms.
Schuerman -photo Barton Co.
Detectives contacted the occupants of the rooms and discovered quantities of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
They arrested Shaina Kuester, 21, Great Bend, on requested charges of felony obstruction of an officer, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Kuester was later charged with introduction of contraband into a detention facility when drugs were found on her person while being processed at the county jail. Kuester is being held in lieu of a $40,000 bond.
Deputies also arrested Cassie Scheuerman, 40, Ellinwood, after it was discovered Scheuerman had outstanding warrants from Barton County District Court for probation violations. It is expected she may face further drug charges pending investigation.
The third person arrested at the scene was Perri Pribble, 43, Ellinwood, for outstanding warrants for drug-related charges as well as failed to appear warrants and a parole violation. Pribble is being held without bond in the Barton County Jail for the parole violation warrant.
Pribble -photo Barton Co.
Two juvenile children belonging to Kuester were present at the time of the search warrant. They were released to family members.
The death investigation is continuing as detectives follow leads and identify parties that may have information.
Fort Hays State University Director of Athletics Curtis Hammeke announced the hiring of Jerod Goodale as head baseball coach on Thursday (May 31). A native of Hays and alumnus of Fort Hays State University, Goodale returns to guide the program where his collegiate baseball journey began. He becomes the 15th head coach in the program’s history.
Goodale
“Today is a special day for myself and my family. I am truly honored and grateful to lead the baseball program at Fort Hays State University and would like to thank Curtis Hammeke for providing me this opportunity,” said Goodale. “I am proud of what we accomplished at Colorado School of Mines during the past seven years, but Hays is home, it’s where I grew up, went to school, met my wife, and started my coaching career. My hope is that I can give back to FHSU and the community of Hays as much as its given to me and my family. I am excited to start the process of bringing our program back to a championship caliber level and look forward to putting in the work to make that happen.”
Over the last seven seasons (2012-18), Goodale was head coach at Colorado School of Mines where he built the baseball program into a conference and national contender. Taking over a program that had 12 consecutive losing seasons before his arrival in Golden in the fall of 2011, Goodale ended a streak that reached 14 years by guiding the program to a 24-23 mark in his third year (2014). The last three seasons (2016-2018), Colorado School of Mines vaulted into one of the top programs in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference by winning
an average of 33 games per season. The 2017 and 2018 seasons were the only years of 30 or more wins in the program’s history, culminating with it’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018. The Orediggers finished the 2018 season 37-18 overall and touted two All-America selections, including RMAC and South Central Region Player of the Year Mikey Gangwish. The two seasons prior, the Orediggers produced records of 29-15 and 32-22. Colorado School of Mines reached the RMAC Tournament Championship Finals in each of the last two years and came up just one win shy of playing for the South Central Regional Championship in 2018. Colorado School of Mines reached the RMAC Postseason Tournament only two times in the program’s history prior to Goodale’s arrival, but qualified six of seven years with him at the helm.
In his seven years at Colorado School of Mines, Goodale coached four All-America selections. Of the four, Nate Olinger earned All-America honors in consecutive seasons (2014 and 2015). In 2018, Mikey Gangwish earned All-America First Team honors at catcher by the ABCA, D2CCA, and NCBWA. Goodale coached 27 All-RMAC selections, including 14 fi rst-team selections. He earned RMAC Coach of the Year honors in 2016.
“Jerod has established himself as a successful baseball coach and draws from several experiences that have led to his growth,” said Fort Hays State Director of Athletics Curtis Hammeke. “We look forward to Jerod continuing on his path of success here at Fort Hays State University.”
Prior to his fi rst head coaching position, Goodale spent two years (2010-2011) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where he helped the program to 59 wins. Before that, he served as an assistant coach at Wichita State University for three years (2007-09) primarily working with catchers, while in charge of opponent scouting reports and assisting with hitters and defense. He helped the program to a 131-66 overall record, five Missouri Valley Conference Championships (three regular season, two tournament), and NCAA Tournament appearances all three years, reaching the Super Regionals twice.
Goodale began his collegiate coaching career at Fort Hays State University, where he served as an assistant coach for two years (2005-06). He served as pitching coach and helped guide the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006, the last time the program reached the national tournament. The pitching staff in 2006 set an RMAC record for lowest team earned run average (3.65), while boasting the RMAC Pitcher of the Year. Fort Hays State had a record of 76-39 over his two years as an assistant.
Goodale’s coaching resume also includes summer coaching stints as an assistant with the Liberal (Kan.) Bee Jays in 2007 and the Thomasville (N.C.) Hi-Toms in 2005.
In Goodale’s 14 years as a collegiate baseball coach, he has helped produce a total of 12 All-Americans, 77 all-conference performers, 80 academic all-conference performers, four Academic All-Americans, two national gold glove award winners, 31 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, and four players that have reached the Major League Baseball level.
Goodale was a student-athlete at Fort Hays State University, playing from 2001 to 2004. He was a two-year captain and two-time all-conference performer at catcher, helping the Tigers to the RMAC regular season and tournament championships in 2003. The 2003 team hosted the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament. He helped the team to an overall record of 157-66 in his time at FHSU as the team won at least 30 games all four years and eclipsed the 40-win mark twice. He served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee from 2002-2004.
Goodale enjoyed summer collegiate league stints as a player with the Clarinda (Iowa) A’s and the Hays Larks. Goodale was a member of the last two Fort Hays State teams to reach the NCAA Tournament, as a player in 2003 and as an assistant coach in 2006. Goodale holds two degrees from Fort Hays State University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in health and human performance (emphasis in sports and recreation) in 2004 and then his master’s in health and human performance (emphasis in sports administration) in 2006.
Goodale and his wife, Jessica, have two daughters, Riley and Lauryn, and one son, Andy.
