TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld a man’s conviction in the drive-by shooting of a woman who had just been married.
Lowery-photo KDOC
The court said Friday that the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office made three errors in the case against 34-year-old Awnterio Dwan Lowery, but concluded they did not deprive Lowery of a fair trial.
Lowery was sentenced to consecutive life terms plus nearly 52 years for the death of 42-year-old Tiffany Davenport-Ray, of Wichita.
Davenport-Ray was fatally shot during the early hours of May 25, 2014.
41-year-old Thomas Earl Brown Jr., also was convicted of Davenport-Ray’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
A third suspect, 26-year-old Jermel Ramond Robbins Sr., was shot to death in southeast Topeka about three weeks after Davenport-Ray was killed.
TOPEKA — President Donald Trump brought his MAGA Rally to Topeka Saturday. Huge crowds arrived early Saturday to get a seat inside the Landon Arena at the Kansas Expocenter.
During the rally, Trump celebrated the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. GOP candidate for Governor Kris Kobach told the crowd, “Now we want to make Kansas great again.”
ST. CHARLES, Mo. – A big Tiger volleyball rally came up just short in the opening set Saturday afternoon (Oct. 6) against Lindenwood, giving the Lions enough momentum to take the match in three sets. The loss moves Fort Hays State to 6-15 on the year and 0-9 in MIAA play, while Lindenwood is now 11-8 overall and 3-6 in league action.
The Tigers took an early lead to open the match, but the Lions broke things open with a big run to go in front by six, 15-9. The Tigers did not quit, however, scoring the next five points to close within one. A kill from Isabelle Reynolds opened the rally before Ashley Webb joined the party with a kill of her own. Consecutive slams from Azlyn Cassaday trimmed the deficit to 15-13 before a Lion error made it even closer.
Lindenwood regained the momentum, however, going back in front by five, before the Tigers could mount a 5-1 run to tie things up at 22. Trailing 21-16, the trio of Tatum Bartels, Morgan West and Cassaday combined for a big block to return serve to the Tigers. Cassaday and Bartels added another block on the following point before two Kayla Vitztum kills and two Lion errors tied the opening set at 22. Bartels kept FHSU in it with a kill two points later, knotting the score at 23, but LU bounced back to capture the final two points to win the set, 25-23.
The Lions never trailed in the second set, heading to the locker room up 2-0 with a 25-19 victory. Fort Hays State led early in the third frame, but a five-point run put the Lions in front for good.
Reynolds and Cassaday both totaled a team-high eight kills, while Cassaday, Bartels and West contributed a team-best three blocks each. Abbie Hayes paced the team with 17 digs, adding one kill. Bre Becker tossed up 21 assists on the day while Amirah Bentley added 10 assists.
The Tigers posted a .099 attack percentage as a team, countered by a .160 swing rate for Lindenwood. Fort Hays State picked up more blocks than its opponents, 5.5 to 4.0, but the Lions held a 9-0 advantage in service aces.
Fort Hays State will return home for its longest homestand of the season, beginning next weekend. The Tigers host five straight conference opponents, opening with a Friday night matchup against Southwest Baptist on Oct. 12. First serve is set for 6 p.m. inside Gross Memorial.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With the Larimer County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Hodgeman County Sheriff’s Office have mad three arrests in connection to the murder of Bayron O. Diaz-Bautista, according to a media release from the KBI.
Diaz-Bautista was found dead in a field in Hodgeman County on Oct. 1. The preliminary autopsy report revealed Diaz-Bautista died from gunshot wounds.
Emilio Nunez-Bahena, 26, Veronica Nunez, 24, and Emilio Nunez-Torres, 45, were arrested Oct. 6 at approximately 12:30 a.m. in Larimer County, Colorado.
Emilio Nunez-Torres -photo Larimer County
The suspects are from Fort Collins, and were each arrested for first-degree murder. They were booked into the Larimer County Jail without bond. Extradition proceedings are expected.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office will prosecute this case. No further information will be released at this time.
EMPORIA, Kan. – Fort Hays State couldn’t overcome four turnovers and lost 28-24 to Emporia State on a chilly afternoon at Welch Stadium.
After the Tigers (4-2) drove 76 yards in nine plays and scored on a three-yard touchdown run from D.J. Hickman to take a 24-21 lead, the Hornets (3-3) answered with a 15 play 69 yard drive to take the lead for good. Braxton Marstall, who completed 32 of 54 passes for 289 yards, hit Jordan Reed on a 13-yard strike after a scramble with 51 seconds to play.
FHSU would advance the ball to the Hornet 33 yard line but Jacob Mezera was sacked on the game’s final play.
Chris Brown Postgame Press Conference
Colt Trachsel Postgame Interview
Matt Wendelberger Postgame Interview
Game Highlights
Mezera completed 27 of 44 passes for 343 yards. He hit Harley Hazlett on a 41 yard touchdown on the Tigers fourth play of the game but also threw an interception at the Hornet six yard line in the second quarter.
The Tigers drove the Hornet one on their second possession but fumbled on third and goal. They would have another second quarter fumble inside Hornet territory and one at near their own 38 midway through the fourth quarter which led to an ESU touchdown.
The home team has won 11 of the last 13 games in the series. FHSU has lost eight of their last nine at Welch Stadium.
TOPEKA– The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) is planning a spillway repair project at Clark State Fishing Lake – a popular and scenic fishing spot in southwest Kansas. The lake is nestled in a rugged canyon along Bluff Creek in northwestern Clark County about 9 miles south of Kingsdown.
The $1.6 million project is set to begin in December 2018 and will take about six months to complete – depending on weather conditions and any unforeseen issues.
The project is necessary to repair parts of the spillway that have deteriorated or been damaged. There is some surface spalling and loose concrete, seepage through the side spillway walls and rebar and wire mesh is exposed. The concrete crib wall is failing – a lower section is missing, and there is bulging and settling. The project also includes maintenance work on the lower tower outlet gates, erosion repair at the outlet structure, cleaning sediment and brush out of the outlet channel, stabilizing banks on the west lake road and at the east abutment and replacing the low water crossing downstream of the spillway.
The intent is to maintain the lake’s prized fishery throughout the construction. However, the project will require lowering the lake level by 20-25 feet to relieve the hydraulic pressure of water in the soil pushing against the underside of the spillway floor and the side walls. The lake covers about 300 acres with a maximum depth of 36 feet deep when full. There will be about 160 surface acres and a maximum depth of about 15 feet after the drawdown, which should be adequate to maintain the fishery. If everything goes as planned, biologists don’t anticipate a significant impact to the fishery; however, staff will monitor the lake and modify management practices according to the duration of the drawdown, water depth and the runoff entering the lake after the repairs are complete.
Angler access will be impacted, as boat ramps will be unusable during the drawdown. Shoreline access will be available, but caution will be necessary at first because the bottom sediment may be too soft to walk on until it dries. Once the project is complete, the lake will refill naturally, which will depend on runoff from the watershed and to a lesser extent, rainfall directly on the lake.
Once complete, the project will result in a repaired spillway as well as improved fishing opportunities in the future. Growth rates of larger sport fish should increase as fish are crowded during the drawdown, and vegetation that will grow on the exposed lakebed will provide optimal conditions for spawning, fish growth and improved water quality when the lake refills. Additional habitat enhancements include the addition of 130 “Georgia Cubes” – PVC pipe structures that provide cover for a variety of fish – as well as brush and rock piles. Boat ramps will be repaired and some of the rip-rapped fishing jetties will be enhanced, as well.
KDWPT expects this project to ensure the future of this treasured lake and fishery, while providing needed repairs and enhancements.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Republican incumbent and his Democratic challenger for Kansas’ 4th Congressional District exchanged barbs and attacked the character of the other in their first debate of the general election.
photo courtesy James Thompson for congress campaign
Rep. Ron Estes started Friday by pointing to a 2001 incident in which challenger James Thompson pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct for punching a bar patron while Thompson was working as a bouncer. Thompson said the man hit him first.
Estes also brought up a 2000 report that claimed Thompson hit a woman. That case was dismissed after the man who actually hit the woman falsely identified himself to police as Thompson, the Democrat said.
“What’s sad about this, though, is Mr. Estes has used this as an example of something to put out into the public even though he knows the truth of the matter,” Thompson said. “He’s weaponized violence against women as a way to score political points.”
Thompson revisited the subject later in the debate when Estes bemoaned the partisan divide in the confirmation process of federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was narrowly confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday following claims that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women decades ago.
“I don’t want my daughters to ever be a victim of sexual assault, but I also don’t want my son to ever be a victim of being accused of something he didn’t do and just take it for granted because they’re not doing due process,” Estes said.
Thompson declared Estes’ stance on Kavanaugh “rich,” adding that Estes was “willing to cast aspersions on me with things that are untrue.”
Thompson also criticized Estes for accepting donations from political action committees. Thompson said he doesn’t accept PAC money. The two also clashed over abortion, with Estes saying he would support bills that make sure “we protect life.” Thompson said he would support abortion rights and accused Republicans of not caring about children after they’re born.
Thompson painted Estes as part of a “do-nothing Congress.” Estes said Thompson wants a “big government with higher taxes.”
Estes and Thompson are scheduled to debate again on Oct. 17. The election is Nov. 6.
New this year to the 46th annual Hays Volga German Oktoberfest was the new German Market which operated from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the grass lot just south of North Central Technical College (NCK Tech) on Main Street, across the street from Municipal Park, where the main Oktoberfest event was held.
The German Market sold items such as baked goods, noodles, jams, crafts, and other traditional food and crafts.
Lee Dobratz, director of the Ellis County Historical Society, talked to Eagle Communications’ Mike Koerner about why the German Market was added in 2018.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice Saturday night after the bitterly polarized U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed him. The Senate vote delivered an election-season triumph to President Donald Trump that could swing the court rightward for a generation after a battle that rubbed raw the country’s cultural, gender and political divides.
Kavanaugh was quickly sworn in at the court building, across the street from the Capitol, even as protesters chanted outside.
I voted to confirm the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the #SCOTUS. As I said when I met Judge Kavanaugh, I am confident he will uphold the values of the Constitution to the highest standard.
The near party-line Senate vote was 50-48, capping a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — which he emphatically denied. Those allegations magnified the clash from a routine Supreme Court struggle over judicial ideology into an angrier, more complex jumble of questions about victims’ rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees.
Acrimonious to the end, the battle featured a climactic roll call that was interrupted several times by protesters in the Senate galleries before Capitol Police removed them. Vice President Mike Pence presided over the roll call, his potential tie-breaking vote unnecessary.
Trump, flying to Kansas for a political rally, flashed a thumbs-up gesture when the tally was announced and praised Kavanaugh for being “able to withstand this horrible, horrible attack by the Democrats.”
The vote gave Trump his second appointee to the court, pleasing conservative voters who might have revolted against GOP leaders had Kavanaugh’s nomination flopped. Instead, “It’s turned our base on fire,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
Democrats hope that the roll call, exactly a month from elections in which House and Senate control are in play, will do the opposite, prompting infuriated women and liberals to oust Republicans.
“Change must come from where change in America always begins: the ballot box,” said Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, looking ahead to November.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, confronting a tough re-election race next month in a state that Trump won in 2016 by a landslide, was the sole Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh. Every voting Republican backed the 53-year-old conservative judge.
Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican to oppose the nominee, voted “present,” offsetting the absence of Kavanaugh supporter Steve Daines of Montana, who was attending his daughter’s wedding. That rare procedural maneuver left Kavanaugh with the same two-vote margin he’d have had if Murkowski and Daines had both voted.
Republicans hold only a 51-49 Senate majority and therefore had little support to spare.
It was the closest roll call to confirm a justice since 1881, when Stanley Matthews was approved by 24-23, according to Senate records.
Within minutes, dozens of political and advocacy groups blasted out emailed reactions.
Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List, which contributes to female Democratic candidates, assailed the confirmation of “an alleged sexual assailant and anti-choice radical to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. But we will carry that anger into the election. Women will not forget this.”
Kay Coles James, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, called the vote “a victory for liberty in America” and called Kavanaugh “a good man and good jurist.”
The outcome, telegraphed Friday when the final undeclared senators revealed their views, was devoid of the shocks that had come almost daily since Christine Blasey Ford said last month that an inebriated Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a 1982 high school get-together.
Since then, the country watched agape as one electric moment after another gushed forth. These included the emergence of two other accusers; an unforgettable Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which a composed Ford and a seething Kavanaugh told their diametrically opposed stories, and a truncated FBI investigation that the agency said showed no corroborating evidence and Democrats lambasted as a White House-shackled farce.
All the while, crowds of demonstrators — mostly Kavanaugh opponents — ricocheted around the Capitol’s grounds and hallways, raising tensions, chanting slogans, interrupting lawmakers’ debates, confronting senators and often getting arrested. Capitol Police said 164 were arrested, raising that count in recent days well into the hundreds.
Inside the Senate, resentments fanned by the battle showed no signs of receding.
Schumer called the GOP’s push for Kavanaugh “one of the least transparent, least fair, most biased processes in Senate history.” McConnell said a vote for Kavanaugh showed that the Senate was “a chamber in which the politics of intimidation and personal destruction do not win the day.”
Democrats said Kavanaugh would push the court too far, including possible sympathetic rulings for Trump should the president encounter legal problems from the special counsel’s investigations into Russian connections with his 2016 presidential campaign. And they said Kavanaugh’s record and fuming testimony at a now-famous Senate Judiciary Committee hearing showed he lacked the fairness, temperament and even honesty to become a justice.
But the fight was defined by the sexual assault accusations. And it was fought against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and Trump’s unyielding support of his nominee and occasional mocking of Kavanaugh’s accusers.
About 100 anti-Kavanaugh protesters climbed the Capitol’s East Steps as the vote approached, pumping fists and waving signs. U.S. Capitol Police began arresting some of them. Hundreds of other demonstrators watched from behind barricades. Protesters have roamed Capitol Hill corridors and grounds daily, chanting, “November is coming,” ”Vote them out” and “We believe survivors.”
On Friday, in the moment that made clear Kavanaugh would prevail, Collins delivered a speech saying that Ford’s Judiciary Committee telling of the alleged 1982 assault was “sincere, painful and compelling.” But she also said the FBI had found no corroborating evidence from witnesses whose names Ford had provided.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has repeatedly battled with Trump and will retire in January, wavered but also backed Kavanaugh.
When Trump nominated Kavanaugh in July, Democrats leapt to oppose him, saying that past statements and opinions showed he’d be a threat to the Roe v. Wade case that assured the right to abortion. They said he also seemed too ready to rule for Trump in a possible federal court case against the president.
Yet Kavanaugh’s path to confirmation seemed unfettered until Ford and two other women emerged with sexual misconduct allegations from the 1980s.
Kavanaugh replaces the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on issues such as abortion, campaign finance and same-sex marriage.
HUTCHINSON— Police say a decomposing body found in the basement of a Hutchinson home at 29 West 16th on Thursday has been identified as 30-year-old Michael Pederson.
The body was found Thursday evening after a tenant complained about a bad smell.
Police Capt. Troy Hoover says investigators found no signs of a break-in or a struggle. Police say an autopsy of the body did not reveal any type of injuries and a results of toxicology report won’t be available for several weeks.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Authorities are investigating fourteen more suspects in connection with a special law enforcement operation.
Michael Brizendine was arrested on weapons and marijuana charges, according to the Sedgwick County Booking report
On Wednesday, approximately 30 police officers and officials with a number of outside agencies including the Kansas Department of Corrections worked together to address criminal activity in the North Broadway Corridor in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
The collaboration resulted in 14 arrests on 10 felony charges and 25 misdemeanor charges.
The investigation also allowed officers to seize an illegal weapon, meth, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to Davidson.
Those arrested include Matthew Johnson-Rudis, Christy Stumblingbear, Levi Outhouse, Seth Harden, Nicholas Pope, Terry Keeler, Kelley Walker, Ronnie Wallace, Pacrecia Curtis, Sammy Langford, Elliot Norton, Mary Bishop Michael Brizendine and Ronnie Goodrun.
About half of young Americans expect to be financially better off than their parents, according to a new poll, a sign that the dream of upward mobility is alive but somewhat tempered.
The poll, by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV, found that half of 15- to 26-year-olds think they eventually will be better off than their parents in terms of household finances. About 29 percent expect to do as well as their parents, and 20 percent expect to be worse off.
Parents were slightly more optimistic: 60 percent think their children will do better than they did, a view that held true for parents across all income groups. Overall, only 12 percent of parents said that they felt their children might do worse.
It’s no longer a guarantee that children will achieve upward income mobility. About half of the Americans born in 1984 earned more at age 30 than their parents, down from 92 percent in 1940, according to the study by famed economist Raj Chetty and others that was released in 2016.
Jennifer Narvaez, 23, is among those who anticipates her financial future will be a bit brighter than that of her parents. Narvaez said she expects to have more opportunities as a college graduate to get a job and own a home than her parents, who grew up in Nicaragua and immigrated to the United States. The Miami resident holds an undergraduate degree in biology and is planning on attending medical school to become a cardiologist.
Narvaez is less certain about the prospects of the U.S. economy, particularly as the nation appears to be marching into a trade war with China.
“It’s a weird time,” she said. “I feel like it’s hard to predict what will happen because of the kind of administration we have.”
Alex Barner, 20, also felt optimistic that he might fare better than his mother, who had him at age 18 and raised him as a single mother. He is attending college in New Mexico and is considering a future career in business management.
While Barner is hopeful he will do well in life, he also has some concerns about the trajectory of the nation and its economy. Like Narvaez, he’s concerned by the trade policy of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Barner also said he feels politicians need to focus more on matters that affect people in the here and now, such as health care and student loan relief.
Respondents were divided about how they expect the nation’s economy will fare in the year ahead. About 29 percent of young people expect the economy to improve, 30 percent expect it will get worse and 41 anticipate it will stay the same. Similarly, 35 percent of parents expect improvement, 27 percent expect conditions to get worse and 38 percent expect the economy to stay as is.
___ The Youth Political Pulse poll was conducted Aug. 23 to Sept. 10 by the AP-NORC Center and MTV. The poll was conducted using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. It includes 580 young people ages 15-26 and 591 parents of children in the same age group. The margin of sampling error for all young people is plus or minus 6.6 percentage points and for parents plus or minus 7.5 percentage points.
