HARPER COUNTY — Another earthquake shook Kansas early Wednesday. The quake at 2:36 a.m. measured a magnitude 3.5 and was centered approximately 5 miles northeast of Harper, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wednesday’s quake follows a series of four weekend earthquakes in Sumner County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The agency reported a 2.8 and a 3.0 magnitude quakes on Saturday afternoon, a 2.6 magnitude quake early Sunday and a 2.7 magnitude quake Sunday afternoon.

There are no reports of damage or injury from Wednesday morning’s quake, according to the Harper County Sheriff’s Department.

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 225 million electronic devices across the United States will wail and buzz Wednesday afternoon as the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducts an emergency alert test.

On Wednesday, October 3rd, at about 1:20 pm CDT, there will be a national test of the Wireless Emergency Alert system. #kswx pic.twitter.com/A5SlQtOyrX

— NWS Dodge City (@NWSDodgeCity) October 2, 2018

A tone will sound at 2:18 p.m. EDT, similar to that of an Amber Alert or flood watch warning, and the subject of the alert will read: “Presidential Alert” and text will say: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

It is the first test of the national wireless emergency system by FEMA. The message will be broadcast by cell towers for 30 minutes, so it’s possible some people may get it at a different time. The alerts will sound as long as the device is turned on — even if it’s on mute or do not disturb, and it may also appear on smart watches, officials said.

A second alert on television broadcast and radio will go off at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The TV and radio alert has been tested for several years.

The system test is for a high-level “presidential” alert that would be used only in a nationwide emergency. It is being completed in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission. FEMA officials said Tuesday they would share test result data on how the testing went with mobile carriers to help ensure the system works well in a true emergency.

Phones with mobile carriers that participate in the wireless emergency alert system, which sends out information on hazardous weather, or missing children, will get the alert. FEMA officials estimate it will reach about 75 percent of all mobile phones in the country, including phones on all of the major carriers.

The wireless alert system launched in 2012. While users can opt out of messages on missing children and natural disasters, they can’t opt out of the presidential alerts, which are issued at the direction of the White House and activated by FEMA.

FEMA officials said the administration can only send such an alert for national emergencies or if the public were in peril, rules outlined in a 2006 law, and they say it can’t be used for any sort of personal message from the president.

A group of New Yorkers filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York arguing they should not be compelled to receive the alerts under their right to free speech.

WICHITA– A Kansas man was sentenced to over 170-years in prison Monday for kidnapping and sexually assaulting three women, according to a media release from the Sedgwick County Attorney.

On August 22, a jury found De’Andrew Dixon, 33, Augusta, guilty of two counts of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated sodomy, one count of rape, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of battery.

In September and October of 2017, Dixon kidnapped and sexually assaulted two women in separate incidents. Dixon also sexually assaulted a third woman in 2016. He found the women walking alone at night and would hold them at gunpoint. The women were driven to secluded locations in Wichita and sexually assaulted, according to the Sedgwick County Attorney.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A political novice who rode his profile as an outsider-adventurer to the Republican nomination in a competitive Kansas congressional district is facing scrutiny about some of the biographical details he shares with voters.

Steve Watkins’ campaign website featured a since-removed testimonial to his “heroic leadership” when a deadly earthquake shook Mount Everest during an expedition. He has acknowledged inaccurately claiming that he started a Middle East business, expanding it from three to 470 people. And there are doubts about Watkins’ self-description as a devoted, sixth-generation Kansan.

Even before Watkins won the crowded primary to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Lynn Jenkins in eastern Kansas’ 2nd District, some fellow Republicans were skeptical. One former GOP foe, state Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, called him “a charlatan, a fraud and an opportunist,” though he now won’t criticize him.

Watkins’ campaign website calls him “an accomplished athlete and explorer,” citing his 2015 attempt to be the first person to race in the Iditarod and scale Mount Everest in the same year.

In that year’s 1,000-mile dogsled race as a rookie, he finished 58th out of 78. Watkins started the race in March 2018 but didn’t finish.

His 2015 expedition on the world’s tallest mountain was cut short by an earthquake in Nepal that killed nearly 8,900 people. Watkins’ website previously quoted Everest outfitter Guy Cotter as saying he relied on Watkins’ “heroic leadership amid the chaos.” Watkins said it was in response to his calm and the moral support he offered his group of stranded climbers.

Cotter told The Associated Press that he never said it and was unaware Watkins had put the quote on his campaign website. It was removed after the AP questioned Watkins about Cotter’s comments.

“There was not really anything heroic to be able to do,” Cotter said in a phone interview from New Zealand. “We all felt quite hopeless … because we were not there, where all the injured and dying people were, through that event. We were actually up on the mountain, so there was very little we could contribute.”

Watkins said: “I captured the statement, to the best of my memory. He and I spoke frequently and often when we were up there, and he shared the sentiment.”

As for the Iditarod, four-time winner Jeff King saw Watkins’ entry this year as a stunt for his political campaign and Watkins’ self-portrayal as an adventurer as a “gigantic fallacy.”

Musher Tara Cicatello was at the back of the pack with Watkins, and both were forced to quit 11 days into the contest because they were so far behind. She said Watkins’ chief concern after being forced to withdraw was the publicity he had lined up. He was on the phone talking about speaking engagements and left the dogs that had carried him more than 700 miles in the care of people who were already overwhelmed with other dogs, she said.

“People were irritated with Steve because they were doing more work for his dogs than he was,” Cicatello said. “I don’t think he mistreated them. It just sounds like he was all about his campaign and the show of it than the actual doing of it.”

Watkins said he entered the 2018 dogsled race because he believed it could be his last chance to compete.

Recently the Kansas City Star reported that while Watkins claimed to have started a company and built it from scratch, in fact he joined an existing company as a contractor. To explain the discrepancy, Watkins said he helped create products and services for the company’s clients.

And public records show the 42-year-old Army veteran hadn’t lived in Kansas since he left high school — nearly two decades before returning to the state last year to run for Congress. During the AP interview, he acknowledged a “transient” life.

“It was exciting, and it was dangerous, challenging and meaningful,” he said.

Military records show Watkins spent five years on active duty with the Army, including six months in Afghanistan. His work as a contractor began late in 2004.

He said his priorities shifted after being injured as a contractor in Afghanistan in 2013. In a 2015 Washington Post interview, he described it as a traumatic brain injury and also said he’d been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder nearly a decade earlier. He told AP the 2013 injury was a “tipping point” that pushed him toward “a more conventional life” but would not discuss details.

Watkins said Kansas “was always home in my heart.” However, he applied 11 times between 2002 and 2015 for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, a payment to those who have lived in the state for a full year and say they intend to remain indefinitely.

Property records show Watkins owns two condos in Alaska, purchased in 2005 and 2015, while the Topeka residence on his voter registration is rented.

Days before Watkins won the seven-candidate August primary, 40 local Republican leaders signed an open letter expressing concerns including his absence from the district. Some GOP leaders also were wary of him after three Democrats said publicly that he met with them last year about running as a Democrat — something he strongly disputes.

Many GOP doubters have since endorsed him because the stakes for the party are high. Even though President Donald Trump won the district by nearly 17 percentage points in 2016, Democrats see the seat as a prime opportunity. Watkins’ better-known Democratic opponent, attorney and former Kansas House minority leader Paul Davis, carried the district when he narrowly lost the 2014 governor’s race.

Davis has his own baggage after representing a legislative district in the liberal-for-Kansas city of Lawrence. Republicans have revived a 1998 incident in which Davis, then a 26-year-old attorney, was present during a drug raid at a strip club while visiting its owner, a client. Police did not accuse him of wrongdoing.

But in nominating Watkins, the GOP took a risk because he’s not been active politically until now, said Bob Beatty, a Washburn University of Topeka political scientist.

“The party does not know what he was doing in Alaska and in the other places he lived,” Beatty said. “It may be a good leap of faith, but it’s still a leap of faith.”

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the community for information.

Just after 8a.m. Monday, police responded to a burglary call at a fast-food restaurant in the
6800 Block of East 21Street North in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson. A 67-year-old employee told police an unknown suspect had thrown a claw hammer through a side, glass door to gain entry to the business.

The suspect is described as a white male in his 20s with an average build. A possible suspect vehicle is described as an older model white Ford Expedition. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

Police did not release details on what was taken from the business.