SHAWNEE COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 6p.m. Sunday in Shawnee County.
A motorcycle was westbound in the 7400 Block of SW 61st in Topeka. The driver lost control of the motorcycle when the rear tire became flat, according to the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Department. The motorcycle went down on the pavement.
Officers arrived and started medical assistance to the passenger of the motorcycle until Mission Fire and AMR arrived. The Driver a 55-year-old man suffered minor injuries and refused medical attention at the scene.
The passenger a 62-year-old woman suffered a head injury. She was transported to Stormont Vail where she died, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Both occupants were wearing helmets. There were no other vehicles involved.
Names of the victims were not released late Sunday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Matt Olson hit a three-run homer in the eighth as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Sunday to win the series.
Olson went 5 for 11 with three home runs, eight RBIs and scored five times in the series.
The A’s are 9-2 in their past 11 road games. The Royals have lost 21 of 31 home games.
Olson drove a 3-0 pitch by Burch Smith 454 feet over the right-center field fence with Jed Lowrie and Chris Davis aboard. Lowrie’s single scored Dustin Fowler, who had three hits, with the first run of the inning to snap a 1-1 tie.
Royals starter Jakob Junis (5-5) was charged with three runs over 7 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and striking out a career-high nine.
Jon Jay snapped the longest active homerless drought in the majors for a non-pitcher with a third inning home run for the Kansas City run. He went 500 plate appearances between home runs. His previous was on July 5 a pinch-hit homer for the Chicago Cubs against Tampa Bay right-hander Erasmo Ramirez at Wrigley Field.
Mark Canha doubled down the left-field line and scored on Jonathan Lucroy’s single in the third for the initial Oakland run.
Starter Daniel Gossett limited the Royals to two hits over five innings, with the Jay homer his only hiccup. Gossett, who is 4-14 in 23 career starts, threw only 63 pitches before leaving with right elbow tightness.
He was replaced by rookie Lou Trivino (3-0), who pitched two hitless innings to pick up the victory. Trivino has a 0.82 ERA, allowing two runs and 15 hits over 22 innings, while striking out 23.
BIG ROYALS DRAFT
The Royals own five of the first 58 picks in the major league draft, which begins Monday. The Royals have the 18th, 33rd, 34th, 40th and 58th selections. They gained first-round compensation picks for the loss of free agents Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer, plus competitive balance picks. The Royals have been allotted $12,781,900 for signing bonuses, the largest pool in this year’s draft.
ERRORLESS STREAK ENDS
Shortstop Alcides Escobar committed a fielding error on Matt Chapman’s ground ball in the sixth, snapping the Royals’ seven-game errorless streak.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: OF Matt Joyce was not in the lineup Sunday after exiting in the fifth inning Saturday with back tightness. “It may be a couple of days,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I’m glad we get the off day tomorrow. We do have the left-hander the first day in Texas, so hopefully we gain a little ground in the next few days, but I wouldn’t say he was great today. He talked to me during the game yesterday and we felt like it was the prudent thing to get him out. Hopefully it’s not too long before we get him back in the lineup.”
UP NEXT
Athletics: They are off Monday before LHP Sean Manaea, who threw a no-hitter on April 21 against Boston, starts Tuesday at Texas. Manaea is 1-4 with a 7.18 ERA in his past six starts.
Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is the Monday probable in the first game of the series at the Los Angeles Angels. Duffy has a 1.32 ERA in his past two starts after allowing 30 earned runs in 30 innings in his previous six starts.
Today A slight chance of showers before 1pm, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1pm and 3pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 84. South wind 7 to 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 60. South southeast wind 7 to 13 mph.
Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 92. South southeast wind 7 to 10 mph.
Tuesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 66. South southeast wind 7 to 10 mph.
WednesdayMostly sunny, with a high near 92.
Wednesday Night A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 91.
Thursday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 69.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican newcomers stunned Washington back in 2010 when they seized the House majority with bold promises to cut taxes and spending and to roll back what many viewed as Barack Obama’s presidential overreach.
Tim Huelskamp from a June 2015 Town Hall in in Washington
But don’t call them tea party Republicans any more.
Eight years later, the House Tea Party Caucus is long gone. So, too, are almost half the 87 new House Republicans elected in the biggest GOP wave since the 1920s.
Some, including current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, joined the executive branch. Others slipped back to private life. Several are senators.
Now, with control of the House again at stake this fall and just three dozen of them seeking re-election, the tea party revolt shows the limits of riding a campaign wave into the reality of governing.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., who was president of that freshman class, objects to the tea party brand that he says was slapped on the group by the media and the Obama administration. It’s a label some lawmakers now would rather forget.
“We weren’t who you all said we were,” Scott said.
He prefers to call it the class of “small-business owners” or those who wanted to “stop the growth of the federal government.” Despite all those yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and anti-Obama health law rallies, Scott said the new Republican lawmakers wanted to work with the president, if only Obama would have engaged them. “We didn’t come to take over the country,” he said.
Yet change Washington they did, with a hard-charging, often unruly governing style that bucked convention, toppled GOP leaders and in many ways set the stage for the rise of Donald Trump.
By some measures, the tea party Republicans have been successful. The “Pledge to America,” a 21-page manifesto drafted by House Republican leadership, outlined the promises. Among them: “stop out of control spending,” ”reform Congress” and “end economic uncertainty.”
They forced Congress into making drastic spending cuts, in part by threatening to default on the nation’s debt, turning a once-routine vote to raise the U.S. borrowing limit into a cudgel during the annual budget fights.
Republicans halted environmental, consumer and workplace protection rules, and that rollback continues today.
Perhaps most notably, the GOP majority passed $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that Trump signed into law, delivering on the tea party slogan penned on so many protest signs: “Taxed Enough Already.”
But former Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said the “most egregious failure” was the GOP’s inability to undo the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature domestic achievement.
Huelskamp said the class never really stuck together. When he arrived that first week in Washington in January 2011, he was stunned to find the leadership slate already set with then-Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, as speaker-in-waiting, facing little resistance.
“That was a sign: The establishment in Washington was happy to have our votes, but not to follow our agenda,” said Huelskamp, who lost a primary election in 2016 to a political newcomer and now runs the conservative Heartland Institute. It was “just a clear misunderstanding of what the people wanted.”
Over time, budget deals were struck with Democrats, boosting spending back to almost what it was before the revolt. Combined with the tax package, the GOP-led Congress is on track to push annual deficits near $1 trillion next year, as high as during the early years of the Obama administration when the government struggled with a deep recession.
Maya MacGuineas, president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said Republicans talked a good game promising to balance the budget, but with control of Congress — and now the White House — they failed to tackle the tough tax-and-spending challenges needed to get there.
“That’s a whole lot of talk and zero follow through,” she said.
Other proposals to improve transparency in government — a pledge to “read the bill” and post legislation three days before votes — remain works in progress. House bills are typically made public, but sometimes just before midnight to conform with the three-day rule.
Frustrations within the ranks grew, and the new class splintered. Not all of them had been favorites of their local tea party groups. Some joined other conservatives to form the House Freedom Caucus, which nudged Boehner to early retirement in 2015.
Former Florida Rep. Allen West, among the more prominent class members who lost re-election and is now a Fox News contributor living in Texas, said the challenge for House Republicans heading into the fall election is, “Who are they? What do they stand for?”
House Republicans are wrestling with a midterm message at a pivotal moment for a party that Boehner says no longer exists.
“There is no Republican Party. There’s Trump’s party,” Boehner said at a recent policy conference in Michigan.
Boehner’s successor as speaker, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also is stepping aside. He was a conservative up-and-comer long before the tea party, but has run into many of the same challenges Boehner faced in managing a fractured majority. He will retire after this term.
In fact, there are an unusually high number of House Republicans retiring this year, including nearly a dozen from the tea party class. Several are running to be governors or senators, though some have already lost in primaries. Others, including Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., another rising star, are simply moving on. Some resigned this year amid ethics scandals.
Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, says every movement “goes through phases.” As the group looks to elect the next “Tea Party 100” members of the House, it’s seeking “tested and proven” candidates beyond the “citizen legislators” who powered the early days.
Another 2010 leader, South Carolina’s Tim Scott, now a senator, says he has no problem with the tea party label that’s now etched in history.
But he reminds his colleagues as they campaign that to keep the majority they must also eventually govern and that “promises made should be promises kept.”
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating suspects on drugs and weapons charges after an anonymous tip.
Perez-Venzor -photo KDOC
Crime Stoppers recently received an anonymous tip regarding a 32-year-old male and a 34-year-old male residing at a residence in the 1000 block of north Grove in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson. The tipster expressed concerned about the behavior of the 32-year-old.
Officers began following up on the information received and learned the two men had felony warrants through the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) and US Marshalls Service.
It was also learned the warrants were for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and an absconder warrant. Officers observed one of the suspects at a residence in the 1000 block of north Grove but at a different address than originally provided.
Officers were able to contact a man leaving the home who confirmed the two individuals and others were in the home. The resident also said that a high-powered rifle was in the home.
Cameron -photo KDOC
With the nature of the warrants and the presence of firearms the WPD Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and K9 team were activated to assist in the investigation, according to Davidson.
Through the investigation six individuals were detained, including the two identified in the original tip 32-year-old Joseph Cameron and 34-year-old Alberto Perez-Venzor, according to the Sedgwick County booking report.
Cameron was jailed on requested charges for possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of drug paraphernalia, and a KDOC warrant, according to Davidson.
Cameron has previous convictions for criminal threat, theft, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and drugs.
Scott -photo KDOC
Police also jailed 21-year-old Kylie Scott, according to the Sedgwick County booking report. She is being held on a $50,000 Bond on a KDOC warrant and 35-year-old Chirie Hellyer on a warrant in Greenwood County, according to Davidson.
Scott has three previous convictions for drugs, theft and violation of a protection from abuse order, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Republican governor candidate Kris Kobach rode in a parade on a jeep with a large replica gun mounted on it, prompting criticism on social media that the display was inappropriate at a time of school shootings.
Timothy Charles “Tim” Fry passed away on Thursday, May 31, 2018 after sustaining injuries from a motorcycle accident, at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, at the age of 63. He was born on December 16, 1954 in Leavenworth, Kansas to the late Charles and Dora (Luttrell) Fry. On October 16, 1971 he was united in marriage to Roberta Lynn Selbe at the home of Roberta’s parents in Plainville, Kansas. They were blessed with two children, Kandie and Shane. They later divorced.
Tim worked most of his adult life in the oilfield. Always one to enjoy a good time, he not only worked hard, he played hard as well. Being out on his Harley, traveling to wherever the road took him, and spending time with family and friends, were the highlights of his life. Of course his grandchildren always held a special place in his heart reserved only for them.
Tim is survived by his children Kandie Morain and husband Roy of Plainville, and Shane Fry and wife Mandy of Plainville; brothers Darell Fry and wife Pam of Kansas City, Lynn Fry of Des Moines, IA, and Eddie Fry of Kansas City; sisters Kathy Richardson and husband Ken of Tonganoxie, and Mary Beth Sharpe and husband Ted of Kansas City; grandchildren Dominic, Alexis, Jami, Jenna, Kyron, Kane, and Braelynn; and great-grandchild Kaisley.
He was preceded in death by his parents Charles and Dora Fry, brother Edward Fry, sister Cheryl Stevens, and former spouse Roberta Fry.
Tim died just as he lived, with his boots on. Never one to slow down, he loved living life to the fullest, and in the fast lane; but his tender heart and joyful spirit always shown through to those he loved the most. Until we see him again, he will be greatly missed, as he rolls up yonder, riding on to a better place.
Funeral Services will be held at 10:00am on Monday, June 4, 2018 at the United Methodist Church in Plainville. Burial will follow in Plainville City Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2:00-8:00pm on Sunday at the funeral home in Plainville with family receiving friends from 2:00-3:00pm.
MANHATTAN — Midwest Ford Dealers awarded five scholarships to FFA members who will be attending the Washington Leadership Conference (WLC) this summer in Washington, D.C. FFA members were recognized for scholarship awards at the 90th Kansas FFA State Convention, May 30–June 1, 2018, on the Kansas State University campus.
At WLC, FFA members will be challenged to take their leadership skills to the next level by
learning to know their purpose, value people, take action and serve others. Located in our nation’s capital, the conference is a five-day event that trains FFA members to make a positive impact in their school, local community, state and country.
This year’s recipients are: Emilee Sweet, Clay Center; Lane Fischer, Ellis; Maggie Billman and Bronte Waisner, Labette County; and Emily Glenn, Scott City.
The Kansas FFA Association is a statewide organization of 9,579 agricultural education students in 198 chapters in every corner of Kansas. It is part of the National FFA Organization, a national youth organization of 653,359 student members preparing for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture with 8,568 local chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Our mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Visit www.ksffa.org for more information.
MCPHERSON — McPherson College, a four-year private liberal arts college located in central Kansas, recognizes its highest academic achievers in its spring 2018 Honor Roll and Honorable Mention.
To qualify for the honor roll, students must be a full-time student and earn a grade point average of 3.55 or higher during the previous term. Students earning a grade point average of 3.25 to 3.54 are named to the honorable mention.
McPherson College offers more than 20 bachelor’s and pre-professional programs with curriculum that emphasizes entrepreneurship and career-focused education. It was ranked this year by U.S. News & World Report on its “Best Colleges” list and recognized by Money Magazine for “Best Colleges for Your Money.” The college was also recognized for the third year in a row as a “Great College to Work For” by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The following northwest Kansas students were named to the honor roll:
Hays
Brooke Russell, Junior, Honorable Mention
Osborne
Cullen Grabast, Sophomore, Honor Roll
Parkes Wolters, Junior, Honor Roll
The reports came like thunderbolts this week: Another journalist beaten to death in Mexico. Two journalists killed in the United States while reporting on a dangerous storm. And a Russian journalist assassinated in Ukraine.
An ongoing outrage. A terrible tragedy. And — as it developed in Kiev — a puzzling farce.
The body of Hector Gonzalez Antonio, a correspondent for national daily newspaper Excelsior, was found in Ciudad Victoria, in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, the sixth journalist killed in the country this year and the second found beaten to death in the last two weeks.
At least nine journalists were murdered in Mexico in 2017, according to the international group Committee to Protect Journalists.
Antonio, a veteran reporter, often wrote about politics and the violence rampant in his home state, reports said. Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for those reporting the news. Drug cartels, political corruption and organized crime have created an environment of near-constant threats, attacks and killings.
In the United States, on Monday, WYFF anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle as they were covering flooding and damage associated with Tropical Storm Alberto in North Carolina.
Just 10 minutes earlier, the local fire chief Geoffrey Tennant had been interviewed by McCormick, and they talked about how “he wanted us to stay safe and how we wanted him to stay safe.” Early reports said the tree likely hit the SUV and crashed through the roof as it was moving — the engine was running and the vehicle was in drive when emergency crews reached the scene.
McCormick and Smeltzer were the first U.S. journalists to die in this country since August 2015, when Alison Parker and Adam Ward of WDBJ in Roanoke, Va., were killed by a deranged former colleague during a live morning broadcast.
The first news from Ukraine was that Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, a long-time critic of the Kremlin, had been shot dead in his apartment in Kiev, where he has been working as a TV news anchor. International press freedom groups joined Ukrainian journalists and Babchenko’s colleagues to demand quick action to solve the murder — only to see him show up alive at a news conference Wednesday, where authorities revealed that the death was faked to foil an assassination plot.
Babchenko apologized to fellow journalists and to his wife, who he said did not know about the deception. Shortly after the shocking revelation, a Ukrainian journalist was quoted in news reports as saying that while he and others were relieved that their colleague had not been killed, “We’d also like to punch him in the nose.”
Like many journalists at that news conference did, it’s okay to celebrate — for a moment — that the assassination plot was foiled, and two conspirators arrested. But after that moment, let’s consider the long-term harm done by the fabricated murder.
The movie-ready drama in Kiev distracted the world’s attention from Hector Gonzalez Antonio’s horrific death — and from the ongoing horror facing journalists in Mexico. And it overwhelmed the news of the deaths of McCormick and Smeltzer, who died while working in dangerous conditions, as journalists often do, to report on natural disasters and alert us of storm threats.
In an era when too many of us doubt the accuracy — and the motives — of journalists, purposely generating fake news, even with the best of motives, seems unwise. If reports are accurate that Ukrainian police knew of the death plot against Babchenko for months, and perhaps even recruited the “hit man” in the sting, surely alternatives to deceiving the world were available.
Already, Kremlin officials are using the incident in attempts to discredit earlier reports about nefarious Russian activity in Ukraine and elsewhere, including calling “fake news” the reported attempt earlier this year to poison another critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Great Britain, and reports that Russia supplied the missile used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines flight in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Yes, it may seem disingenuous to decry both the murders of journalists and the efforts to prevent one — but, put simply, journalists cannot do their jobs and be de facto police officers at the same time. Sources need to trust that reporters are not working with the authorities — particularly in nations without strong protections for press freedom. News consumers need to trust that journalists are not simply another vehicle for government propaganda. And any deception offers “proof” to those who already see conspiracies, bias and political interference behind reports that challenge preconceived notions or the claims of those in power.
On Monday, June 4, the Newseum will hold the annual rededication of its Journalists Memorial, adding the names of 18 journalists who died in 2017, who will represent all journalists who died last year while gathering and reporting the news. It’s an annual reminder of the risks journalists take in simply doing their jobs.
The world should celebrate that Arkady Babchenko is alive. It’s just too tragic that we cannot say the same of Mike McCormick, Aaron Smeltzer and Hector Gonzalez Antonio — and the many others whose deaths are all too real.
Gene Policinski is president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute. He can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @genefac.
Editor’s Note: The Newseum’s Journalists Memorial rededication ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 4. The ceremony can be watched via live stream.
The state’s two current contractors — KVC Kansas in the Kansas City metro and eastern region, and St. Francis Community Services in Wichita and the western region — have been managing foster care and services aimed at keeping struggling families together.
The Department for Children and Families opened the application for a new child welfare grant system Thursday. It allows DCF to have more oversight of grantees than the old contract system, and separates foster care and family preservation services. SCOTT CANON / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Under the new grant structure, no one agency will handle both in the same region, and DCF will have closer oversight over how state dollars are used than under the old contract system.
Family preservation services will be divided across the four current regions: East, West, Kansas City and Wichita. Foster care will be split into eight smaller areas.
DCF also says the new grants will allow family preservation to be more tailored, with services lasting anywhere from six weeks to 12 months. Contractors and child welfare workers have expressed frustration with the current one-size-fits-all approach that limits agencies’ caseloads and keeps families on a one-year timeline.
Kansas privatized its foster care system in 1997 after a lawsuit revealed widespread problems and bad outcomes for children. Since then, the state has directly contracted with several agencies for foster care and family preservation, which in turn subcontract some services.
Now separating family preservation and foster care will “eliminate perceived conflicts of interest,” DCF said in a news release.
Christie Appelhanz, executive director of the Children’s Alliance of Kansas, which DCF contracts to provide training to foster families, said the new structure could be a step in the right direction.
“The reason we privatized child welfare was for innovation and healthy competition,” she said. “With additional contractors, I think we will better get to that point for kids and families.”
It might, she said, also level the playing field for smaller providers. Providers that couldn’t compete with agencies handling all child welfare services in a region before could now make a play for state grants to manage just family preservation, or just foster care, in that area.
KVC spokeswoman Jenny Kutz said the agency is considering DCF’s new request for proposals, but can’t yet speak to which regions and services they will apply to manage, if any. KVC has been a contractor for DCF since the agency privatized foster care 20 years ago.
Janis Friesen, spokeswoman for the other current contractor, St. Francis, said it won’t be releasing any information about its proposals before submitting them to DCF, citing the competitive nature of the bidding process.
“We have a long history of serving the State and its children and families, and we hope to continue doing that wherever possible,” she said in an email.
One “elephant in the room,” as Appelhanz described it, is whether more faith-based organizations will throw their hats into the ring for the state grants after the legislature passed a controversial bill allowing adoption and foster care subcontractors to turn away families who don’t fit with their religious beliefs.
DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel and Gov. Jeff Colyer said the new law would keep religious providers in Kansas and attract additional providers not yet operating in the state.
Opponents of the religious exemption questioned its timing, as it came up for debate in the same year DCF’s child welfare contracts were expiring.
“I do have concerns about the timing of this [bill], that it may impact which providers receive consideration for contracts,” Joni Hiatt, director of the advocacy organization Foster Adopt Connect in Kansas, said ahead of the final vote on the measure last month.
DCF’s new request for child welfare proposals specifically requires that grantees serve everyone referred for services, regardless of “race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry.”
DCF said it will also be soliciting bids for a single electronic system to match kids with foster homes and store records for youth in care statewide.
Currently, each provider has its own system, making it difficult for the state to have accurate data on where there are available beds.
Hiatt with Foster Adopt Connect called the plans for a central placement system a “huge step forward,” saying in an email that it will, “remove the financial incentive for the agencies to only place children in their own licensed homes for monetary reasons.”
Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox.
A motorcycle was westbound in the 7400 Block of SW 61st in Topeka. The driver lost control of the motorcycle when the rear tire became flat, according to the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Department. The motorcycle went down on the pavement.
Today
