TOPEKA— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have made an arrest.
Shaun Hightower-photo Shawnee Co.
Just after 2p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a local hospital on the report of a male victim arriving with a gunshot wound. Upon arrival, officers discovered the incident occurred in the area of the 3100 Block of SE Pisces in Topeka, according to Lt. Jerry Monasmith. The victim appeared to have non-life threating injuries.
On Friday, following an investigation police identified a suspect as 44-year-old Shaun Hightower. On May Just after 12:31 p.m. officers observed Hightower in a local convenience store, and later located him in the 2100 Block of NW Lower Silver Lake Road, according to Monasmith. Police took him into custody without incident on requested charges of Aggravated Battery and transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections.
By RANDY GONZALES FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Thanks to the Virtual College at Fort Hays State University, Josh Fitkin is still learning while he is teaching.
As part of his course work, Fitkin has already passed on lessons he has learned to his students when he was teaching in Iowa and also to fellow educators in Canada, where he now lives.
Fitkin, through Fort Hays State, is already having an impact on people’s lives with his degree.
“As a working teacher, I could use activities that I was doing in class at Fort Hays State, I would use it in school,” Fitkin said of his teaching days in Iowa.
Distance learning through the Virtual College enabled Fitkin to achieve his career goal.
“I could not attend university in Canada,” Fitkin said. “No problem. I’m at Fort Hays State. I can take classes anywhere in the world. That’s the beauty of the distance learning program.”
Fitkin plans to walk across the stage at Saturday morning’s commencement exercises in Gross Memorial Coliseum after flying into Kansas from Canada just hours earlier. He will earn a master’s degree in instructional technology, part of the Advanced Education Programs Department in the College of Education.
An Iowa native, Fitkin moved his family to Canada about 11 months ago so his wife, a Canadian, could be closer to home. He had already started his online master’s program at FHSU and put the final touches on it just this week.
Since moving to Canada, Fitkin is waiting for the final paperwork for the work visa that will allow him to teach north of the border. In the meantime, his wife, Ruthann, is a substitute teacher, and he drives a shuttle car for a local car dealership in Trenton, Ontario. As part of his Fort Hays State online education, Fitkin was required to teach a professional development session with Canadian teachers.
“I was able to bring to them material that they had never heard of,” Fitkin said. “Again, Fort Hays is educating other teachers through their students. In a way, we’re impacting teachers and students in Canada.”
Fitkin’s advisor, Dr. Suzanne Becking, said the instructional technology master’s option is a popular online degree.
“It’s a degree that has been really well-received by teachers, people who have realized that the future for their students is in knowing and understanding some of our technologies out there,” Becking said. “The program itself is instructional technology. The focus is on instruction, not necessarily the technology or the devices. How do you use the technology to get at student learning?”
That is why Fitkin was looking for a master’s degree in the first place. His school in Iowa was buying laptops for each student, so he thought he should learn how to teach social studies and history while using that technology. Fitkin researched schools across the country before deciding on Fort Hays State. The lower cost of getting his degree at FHSU was a consideration, as was the fact he could do the entire program online.
“The master’s program was like thousands of dollars less than at my alma mater,” Fitkin said. “The thing that really made it possible was I never once had to step foot on campus as part of my program. A lot of other universities, even if they have an online program, you have to go there in the summer time for three weeks, something like that. Fort Hays State was completely off campus. I could be at home working from my recliner.”
Once his visa paperwork clears, Fitkin will again be working as an educator in Canada. Fort Hays State’s online degree will have furthered his career.
“With the master’s degree, I will be higher on the pay scale,” Fitkin said. “I also will be considered a highly qualified candidate as opposed to just a qualified candidate. It makes me more employable and gives me more opportunities.”
First, however, was the opportunity to walk across the stage for graduation. Fitkin, who struggled academically at the start of his college experience 20 years ago, has come full circle and will graduate from Fort Hays State with a 4.0 grade-point average. Even though his wife and two young children could not attend, Fitkin was determined to be part of commencement.
“It’s really a big deal for me,” said the 40-year-old Fitkin. “Having flunked out of college, I really wanted to walk, and I accomplished this. It’s going to be a little surreal to go through it. I am glad I am doing it.”
TOPEKA – Widespread spring rains haven’t dampened the outdoor spirit at Kansas state parks, although there will be impacts to some park facilities in eastern Kansas. However, many state parks in the western portion of the state were mostly unaffected by the rainy weather and are open and ready to welcome visitors. They include Wilson, Meade, Cedar Bluff, Glen Elder, Lovewell, Prairie Dog,Webster, Sand Hills and Historic Lake Scott state parks.
Most state parks in the eastern half of Kansas report that campsite and cabin rental opportunities remain even though some facilities in low-lying areas are not usable, such as campgrounds, boat ramps, courtesy docks, beaches and access roads. The campgrounds and cabins at Clinton State Park are on high ground and are open for visitors, although boat ramps and the beach are closed.
Many state parks are located adjacent to federal reservoirs, some of which are holding water to mitigate downstream flooding. As a result, rising water levels can overrun shoreline areas, including wildlife areas. State fishing lakes do not store water for flood control, so they are largely unaffected by rising water. Crawford State Park in southeast Kansas surrounds a state fishing lake, so that park has been unaffected by flooding.
At affected parks, staff are happy to work with visitors to change their reservations to a dry campsite if available, arrange for another date in the future, provide a gift card good for a future stay or issue a refund. Park staff remind visitors to never drive around barricades into floodwaters. Just like driving on streets and highways, the mantra, “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” also applies to state park roads.
Many state parks have special events planned for the weekend prior to the Memorial Day holiday, so there is plenty for park goers to do. Visitors are encouraged to call park offices for up-to-date information and campsite availability for the holiday weekend before setting out on their trip.
PRATT – Three-hundred and fifty students from across Kansas aimed to prove their archery skills at the 10th Annual State Archery in the Schools Tournament at Blythe Family Fitness Center in Pratt on March 30.
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism staff, alongside members of the Kansas Bowhunters Association (KBA), erected the tournament’s 20-foot archery range the day prior. The set-up was complete with a 200-foot safety curtain – a purchase made possible last year thanks to a $3,000 district grant courtesy of the Pratt Rotary Club.
Archers shot for individual and team honors, and the opportunity to compete at the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP®) competition. Divisions include Elementary School (grades 4-5), Middle School (grades 6-8), and High School (grades 9-12).
How It Works
Each competitor shot 30 arrows over two rounds. Rounds consist of fifteen arrows from 10 meters and fifteen arrows from 15 meters. A bullseye scores 10 points, so a perfect score would be 300. A team is made up of 12-24 shooters, and the team score is the sum of the top 12 scores.
Following the last flight, a “Senior Scholarship Shoot-off” took place where high school seniors shot 15 arrows at 15 meters to compete for scholarship money. First place winners, each receiving a $1,000 scholarship, were Nathanael Godsell of Heritage Academy and Shelby Hettenbach of Chapman High School. These top tier scholarship donations were made possible by the KBA, The Peoples Bank in Pratt and NASP®. Second place winners, each netting a $500 scholarship, were Trenton Jones and Bailey Julian, both from Pittsburg High School. The donations for 2nd place scholarship awards were donated by Dakota Holtgrieve – Edward Jones in Pratt, Eagle Sportz and NASP®.
Participating Schools
Archers hailed from 22 schools, including: Chaparral High School, Chapman Middle School, Chapman High School, Clay Center Community Middle School, Clay Center Garfield Elementary, Clearwater High School, Clearwater Middle School, Dodge City High School, Dodge City Central Elementary, Douglass High School, Greeley County Schools, Heritage Academy, Maize High School, Pittsburg High School, Pratt High School, Riverton High School, Service Valley Charter Academy, Southeast Junior High School, Tyro Christian School, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Middle School, and Warriors Archery.
Construction is finished and now NCK Technical College, 2205 Wheatland, is getting ready to sell a custom-built house at public auction at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, for the first time in four years.
The project was overseen by Doug Marrs, NCK instructor of construction and cabinet making, once again this year.
Almost all aspects of the custom-built home — from design to finishing — were completed by NCK Tech students under the watchful eye of Marrs, who served as the general contractor on the project.
“It is a pretty good-sized home,” he said.
With the two cantilevers, the three-bedroom, three-bath house measures 1,960 square feet and was built to specifications of the latest International Resident Code.
“This house could be moved anywhere in Kansas,” Marrs said, adding it likely would be able to be moved to other states by the winning bidders.
The house was built to be extremely energy efficient, with an abundance of insulation and low-wattage lighting.
Insulation installed in the walls and attic goes far beyond minimum requirements.
“So this house is super-insulated, with very little air infiltration,” Marrs said. “Turn on every light in this house on, let it run 24 hours, it might cost you a quarter. Half a breaker is all it takes to run the lights.”
The usage of the urethane foam was one of only two aspects of the build that were not completed by the students, due to the specialized equipment needed and time constraint.
The trusses were brought in from a local company as a way to save time on the project as well as allowing the project to skip the building certification process that would be required in Hays when building trusses.
With the completion of construction last Friday, the house is ready for the move and to be plugged into its new location, with power and water fully functional inside the house and heating and air conditioning duct work in place.
“This house is pressure checked,” Marrs said. “Everything on this level works.”
Completely ready to go, the house utilizes some of the best materials along with side high-tech touches.
“All the cabinetry is done in solid cherry. There are not too many houses that have solid cherry cabinetry,” Marrs said. “There is 1,300 square feet of solid cherry in this house.”
Several pieces of the kitchen cabinets are integrated in a way that could not be purchased and gives the area a unique design.
“It gives it a lot more character and is prettier that way,” Marrs said.
While he approves of the features put into the house, Marrs points out almost all aspects of the build are specified by his students.
“In essence, when it comes down to it, is not my house. It is their house, and they will take possession of it,” he said.
The project started with 14 students coming up with individual plans.
“From there, the students all get together and make a determination as to which plan they like,” Marrs said.
They then take all the elements from the plans they like and combine them into the final plan for the house.
“That is how we end up with a floor plan that is buildable and sellable,” Marrs said.
While the house was built using classic materials, giving it a unique look, the students included some high-tech features.
“We are a tech college, so we try to throw in some of the new and more innovative things that are out there in the industry today,” Marrs said.
Some of the features of the house included a fireplace integrated into the living room with a drop-down television mount above the mantel, another television mount in the ceiling of the master bedroom, Bluetooth connected bathroom lights and a ring doorbell.
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Funds from the sale are used to cover the cost of the materials and taxes, with the intention of the project being, at minimum, revenue neutral.
Any profit from the sale will go back into the college.
“The whole intent is to sell this for what we have got into the materials, so we can go back next year and do the same thing over,” Marrs said.
Monetary concerns aside, the entire project must also fit into the academic school year, giving the students approximately eight months to complete the house.
“We don’t let any grass grow on our feet, because we do not have time,” Marrs said.
While the only reward for the fast and furious work is course credit, he believes it gives the students a leg up in the job market.
“A lot of businesses and business owners know that coming out of this school they have some background, they are not green off the street,” Marrs said.
That experience, he feels, is invaluable for his students as they enter the job market.
“Technical education is on the increase and has been for the last four or five years. It will continue, we are so far short on people,” Marrs said. “This is probably the best learning situation you can have when it comes to house building.”
There are not many schools left in the state that build a full house, he added, with most teaching individual construction elements on a modular basis.
“This is the real deal. You make a mistake, you will have to fix it, you will have to deal with it in the end, just like you would out there in the real world,” he said. “We feel there is nothing that compares to it.”
The Honors College at Fort Hays State has selected 42 new students for the 2019-20 academic year.
“The new, incoming 2019-20 class of the FHSU Honors College truly represents the best of the best,” said Matt Means, director of the Honors College. “These 42 individuals bring to the university a vast array of prior accomplishment; they have amassed a significant collection of leadership and academic successes that portend extraordinary futures at FHSU and beyond.”
“The Honors College set a new record for number of applications received this year, maintained a 90-percent yield rate among those accepted, and will grow to a total program size of around a hundred this fall,” he said.
“These new students are joining a program of great strength and will become part of an ethos that has established a high bar of success,” said Means.
The college offers three exclusive scholarships: The Regents Scholarship, the Tier 1 Scholarship and the Tier 2 Scholarship, all of which are renewable for three additional years.
The Regents Scholarship covers full tuition and fees up to 18 credit hours, room and board and includes $450 per semester for books. The Tier 1 Scholarship provides students with $4,000 for tuition and $6,000 for room and board. The Tier 2 Scholarship provides students with $3,500 for tuition and $3,200 for room and board.
New members are listed alphabetically by hometown. The list does not include students who requested privacy.
ALMENA (67622): Micah Kasson, an incoming freshman majoring in graphic design, is a 2019 Norton High School graduate.
ANDOVER (67002): Hannah Wiebe, an incoming freshman majoring in psychology, is a 2019 Andover Central High School graduate.
BELOIT (67420): Autumn Sneath, a sophomore majoring in general science, is a 2018 Beloit High School graduate. BOGUE (67625): Seth Thompson, an incoming freshman majoring in general science, is a 2009 Hill City High School graduate.
BOULDER, Colo. (80303): Reilly Madden, an incoming freshman majoring in communication sciences and disorders, is a 2019 Boulder High School graduate. COLBY (67701): Isabel Rosales, a sophomore majoring in biology, is a 2017 Colby High School graduate.
CONCORDIA (66901): Grace Carder, an incoming freshman majoring in art education, is a 2019 Concordia High School graduate.
Kali Harvey, a freshman majoring in radiologic technology, is a 2018 Concordia High School graduate.
GREAT BEND (67530): Kaitlin Adams, a sophomore majoring in management, is a 2017 Great Bend High School graduate. HAYS (67601): Kallie Leiker, an incoming freshman majoring in chemistry, is a 2019 Hays High School graduate.
Rebekah Porter, an incoming freshman majoring in accounting, is a 2019 Hays High School graduate.
HOUSTON, Texas (77084): Franklin Solorio, a freshman majoring in marketing, is a 2018 Mayde Creek High School graduate. HOXIE (67740): Brynn Niblock, a sophomore majoring in biology, is a 2017 Hoxie High School graduate.
LAWRENCE (66049): Lydia Wood, an incoming freshman majoring in psychology, is a 2019 Lawrence Free State High School graduate.
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (64082): Lily Flint, an incoming freshman majoring in nursing, is a 2019 Lee’s Summit West High School graduate.
LYONS (67457): Brady Stephenson, a sophomore majoring in finance, is a 2019 Little River High School and Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science graduate.
McPHERSON (67460): Ashley Achilles, an incoming freshman majoring in management, is a 2019 McPherson High School graduate.
OLATHE (66062): Natalie Miller, a freshman majoring in political science, is a 2018 Olathe South High School graduate.
OMAHA, Neb (68137): Tanner Lukowski, an incoming freshman majoring in management, is a 2019 V.J. and Angela Skutt Catholic High School graduate.
PRATT (67124): Jorja Elliott, a freshman majoring in biology, is a 2019 Pratt High School and Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science graduate.
PRETTY PRAIRIE (67570): James Budge, an incoming freshman majoring in marketing, is a 2019 Haven High School graduate. RUSSELL (67665): Alexia Charbonneau, a sophomore majoring in biology, is a 2017 Russell High School graduate.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (78258): Daniel Huantes, an incoming freshman majoring in physics, is a 2019 Ronald Reagan High School graduate. SCOTT CITY (67871): Brenda Aguirre-Apodaca, a sophomore majoring in biology, is a 2018 Scott Community High School graduate.
SHARON SPRINGS (67758): Hayley Pierce, an incoming freshman majoring in psychology, is a 2019 Wallace County High School graduate.
STERLING, Colo. (80751): Jordan Matthews, an incoming freshman majoring in chemistry, is a 2019 Merino High School graduate.
STILWELL (66085): Kimberly Stone, a freshman majoring in political science, is a 2018 Stanford University Online High School graduate.
TONGANOXIE (66086): Rose Reilly, an incoming freshman majoring in biology, is a 2019 Lawrence Virtual High School graduate.
WAMEGO (66547): Caden Moore, an incoming freshman majoring in political science, is a 2018 Wamego High School graduate.
WASHINGTON (66968): Malari L’Ecuyer, an incoming freshman majoring in music, is a 2019 Washington County High School graduate.
WHITE CITY (66872): Jamie Beck, an incoming freshman majoring in chemistry, is a 2019 White City High School graduate.
WICHITA (67230): Isabelle Reynolds, a sophomore majoring in biology, is a 2018 Andover High School graduate.
WICHITA (67211): Megan Roth, a sophomore majoring in social work, is a 2017 Wichita East High School graduate.
Addiction can be defined as the compulsive repeated use of a drug or substance (such as alcohol) or performance of a behavior (such as gambling). Dependence is different, occurring when repeated use of a drug (such as heroine) results in physical dependence which causes an unpleasant feeling of withdrawal when the drug is stopped. Addiction and dependence can occur separately, although they often run together.
At five-years-old, I was a thumb-sucker. I recall not being proud of it as my folks seemed progressively upset about my “addiction.” The process that finally helped me quit was when I was told I would not visit my grandma in Minneapolis until I stopped sucking my thumb. I remember many struggled attempts at quitting before I finally shook the monkey off my back. Addiction is a human condition that can affect any one of us.
The people in this country are currently caught in a terrible maelstrom of opioid addiction from which human beings of all ages, races and economic status seem unable to escape. Twice as many people suffocated to death from opioids last year than died of vehicular crashes. According to the website DrugFree.org, in 2010, something like 23.5 million people in the U.S. (about one in every ten over the age of 12) were addicted to alcohol, drugs, or something. Of those addicted, only one in ten would ever get help.
One expert stated that the financial and emotional toll of addiction is greater than the combined consequences of diabetes mellitus and all cancers put together. Think of all the lung disease and cancer that results from smoking; the cirrhosis and liver failure as well as the dementia that results from alcohol; the dental problems from methamphetamine use; and all the social consequences of addiction including accidental vehicular crashes, suicides, homicides, criminal behavior and incarceration.
Despite all this doomsday talk, I think we have room for hope if we realize that none of us is immune and everyone should take precautions. We should start with an open-eyed and honest approach with our youth, teaching the truth about addiction without making addictive behaviors a “forbidden fruit.” Our country desperately needs affordable addiction and mental health treatment options, available to all, without the negative stigma (and often unhelpful incarceration) that can follow. Spending for prevention and treatment of addiction would save us all significantly more than it would cost.
We also need more research to better understand addiction and what influences addictive behavior, even that as seemingly benign as sucking one’s thumb.
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When it comes to marijuana, Kansas is a red state in an increasingly green country.
Three of its neighbors — Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri — have legalized some form of the drug in recent years. Yet Kansas remains one of four states in the country without a comprehensive medical or recreational marijuana program.
Law enforcement agencies in Kansas say legalizing even medical marijuana could lead to more black market activity. But it’s hard to know what impact marijuana could have because the state doesn’t collect much information about it.
That’s not for lack of trying. This spring, the Legislature passed a bill allowing patients and caregivers to possess CBD — one chemical in marijuana — containing small amounts of THC, a psychoactive component of the plant. The Kansas Health Institute reports that lawmakers have introduced 18 medical marijuana bills since 2006. This year, one got a hearing at the Capitol.
But law enforcement officers representing several of the state’s agencies and professional organizations testified against it. The bill never made it to a vote.
“I only ask that you give deference to the experience, to the opinions of the law enforcement community,” said Kirk Thompson, director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the top law enforcement agency in the state. “We’ve seen the negative side of this issue.”
The agency denied requests for an interview with Thompson and didn’t answer emailed questions about its marijuana enforcement strategy. But Thompson’s statement echoes the position of many of the state’s law enforcement agencies and organizations.
They argue that even legalization of medical marijuana would increase car accidents and violent crime and make it easier for foreign drug cartels to move weed onto the black market.
Law enforcement officers say weed is inherently tied to violence, especially from Mexican cartels. And they report an increase in marijuana-related traffic stops in Kansas, especially since Colorado legalized recreational sales of the drug in 2014.
“In every way, marijuana is driving up public health and public safety concerns,” said Jeffrey Stamm, executive director of the Kansas City-based Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, under the Office of National Drug Control Policy. “In terms of the psychopharmacology, the economic, the criminal, the social costs of marijuana use, cops, in fact, are the experts.”
But ultimately, it’s hard to know what impact marijuana has on public safety in Kansas because the state doesn’t collect much of that information.
Anecdotes and Statistics
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration publishes data on its Cannabis Eradication Program, including arrests, number of plants seized and the value of assets seized in each state.
But the Kansas Bureau of Investigation doesn’t do the same.
KBI says in 2018, more 45% of its crime lab’s blood drug tests came back positive for THC. In 2013, only 29% of those blood tests indicated the presence of THC. But the agency doesn’t track the total number of marijuana seizures in the state, nor does it track the total number of marijuana arrests.
In an email, a spokeswoman said the agency’s statewide crime reporting system was “extremely outdated,” deriving statistics from police reports that don’t distinguish which specific drugs were involved in an incident.
The agency also doesn’t track the origin of marijuana seizures in Kansas — whether the drugs came from inside the state, from another U.S. state such as Colorado or California, or from an international source like a Mexican cartel.
A 2016 survey of law enforcement agencies conducted by the Kansas Attorney General’s office found that it’s hard for police to conclusively find out where drugs are from. They rely on statements from suspects, receipts, labels on packages, or stops near Kansas’ western border to determine whether marijuana comes from pot-friendly Colorado.
Some survey respondents said they had made an increasing number of arrests for DUIs and people carrying marijuana products, especially edibles, since 2014. Others, however, noted no increase or said sample sizes were too small to tell.
Kansas Highway Patrol Lt. Chris Bauer, who teaches officers to recognize whether drivers have been using drugs, said the patrol has noticed an increase in drivers being impaired by marijuana. The Highway Patrol says 62% of lab tests of impaired drivers in 2018 came back positive for THC. Two years earlier, 54% of labs found traces of the drug. Yet those tests aren’t always a reliable indicator of how recently someone used cannabis.
In a phone interview, Bauer said he believes the increase is a result of “society’s changing attitude toward cannabis, and then also the fact that we’re surrounded by states who now have legalized it.”
In 2018, the Kansas Highway Patrol confiscated 13,029 pounds of marijuana in 322 seizures. In 2017, the agency made 399 seizures and confiscated 7,488 pounds.
Bauer said many troopers have begun getting rid of small amounts of marijuana by the side of the road during traffic stops, rather than arresting and charging everyone for possession. Those stops don’t get recorded.
“Maybe we don’t want to take everybody to jail for a small amount of marijuana,” Bauer said. “Jails are full. We sort of have to triage what we’re doing.”
Kansas Department of Transportation data shows that drug-related traffic collisions have remained at about 0.5% of all accidents over the past decade, but the agency does not collect information on specific drugs.
‘Arrows in Their Quiver’
State Sen. David Haley, a former prosecutor who co-sponsored the medical marijuana bill in the Kansas Senate this year, said the state has a strong law enforcement lobby. He thinks officers want to keep marijuana illegal as a pretext to stop and search people.
“I think law enforcement wants to keep as many arrows, if you will, in their quiver,” he said. “I can’t think of any other reason that their lobby has been so adamant.”
Brian Leininger, another former prosecutor who now works as a defense attorney in DUI cases, agrees.
“Police and other government officials have a lot of social capital,” he said. “They want the status quo. They make their living enforcing the drug laws.”
For about five years, Leininger served as the general counsel for the Kansas Highway Patrol. As a private defense attorney, he still speaks with police regularly and says officers often tell him they oppose the state’s marijuana laws but don’t think they can speak out publicly.
“All the time, officers tell me and other people that ‘it’s really foolish this is illegal. I wish they’d just make it legal. It would make my job easier,’” Leininger said. “‘Alcoholics are violent and dangerous and bad drivers. People under the influence of marijuana are generally calm.’”
He thinks attitudes will change as older officers start retiring and societal attitudes continue to change.
“As the officers get younger, a higher and higher percentage of them grew up with marijuana,” he said. “Eventually, when 45 of the other states have legalized it entirely, maybe Kansas will come around.”
Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. West northwest wind 7 to 9 mph becoming east northeast in the afternoon. A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms mainly after 4pm.
Tonight
Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 1am. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. East wind 11 to 15 mph becoming north northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Sunday
Sunny, with a high near 69. North northwest wind 8 to 15 mph.
Sunday Night
Isolated showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. East wind 7 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Monday
Periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 57. Breezy, with an east wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
Monday Night
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 1am, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 1am. Cloudy, with a low around 52. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Tuesday
Scattered showers and thunderstorms before 1pm, then isolated showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 70. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
PRATT – The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) is seeking public input on Kansas’ Monarch Conservation Plan through May 30. The Kansas Monarch Conservation Plan outlines a 20-year objective to conserve, enhance and create pollinator habitat on private, public and urban lands through non-regulatory, voluntary efforts.
Kansas is a national stronghold for monarch conservation and is uniquely positioned to conserve and enhance large acreages and landscapes ideal for monarch migratory and breeding habitat.
The Kansas Monarch Conservation Plan serves as a guiding document to support ongoing and future conservation efforts, taking into account that successful implementation of the plan will require a multi-sector approach. For this reason, KDWPT has collaborated with individuals from ranching and farming organizations, conservation organizations, industry, agencies, academia, and tribal nations – representing 68 organizations – to set voluntary goals for the conservation of monarchs and other native pollinators.
Any individual or entity planning, implementing or funding monarch conservation activities in Kansas should reference this document and consider providing input.
JOHNSON COUNTY —A 1991 Mustang 5.0 stolen in Kansas back in October 1993 has been recovered. Captain Fredrickson, who took the report as a patrolman got the call Thursday, according to a social media report form Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez.
A 1991 Mustang 5.0 stolen in OP back in October 1993 has been recovered! Captain Fredrickson, who took the report as a patrolman, got the call today. It was recovered in a Missouri barn and identified by the @MSHPTrooperGHQ. See the attached report and replica photo. pic.twitter.com/0pPlRWluwC
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have a suspect in custody.
Trevon Williams photo Shawnee Co.
Just after 7:30 p.m. police responded to an apartment complex in the 3500 block of SW 29th in Topeka in reference gunshots in the area, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel.
While officers were investigating the crime scene at the apartment, one juvenile teen male and one juvenile teen female arrived at an area hospital by private vehicle with non-life threatening gunshot wounds. The victims are expected to make a full recovery.
Through the investigation it was discovered that this incident was a direct result from a narcotics transaction, according to Beightel.
Information gleaned from the investigation, police were able to locate and arrest the suspect, later identified as Trevon Leson Williams, 18 yrs. old of Topeka.
Police booked Williams into the Shawnee County Jail on requested charges of aggravated battery and criminal discharge of a firearm.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Abused and neglected children are again sleeping overnight in the offices of Kansas foster care contractors because homes cannot be found for them quickly enough.
Since January, when Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took office, more than 70 children have been kept overnight in the offices of the two nonprofit agencies providing foster care services. Her Republican predecessor’s administration kept children from sleeping in offices during its final months after threatening publicly to fine contractors — a threat Kelly’s administration has dropped.
The state Department for Children and Families provided statistics in response to questions from The Associated Press after it received a tip that the practice had returned. Kelly, legislators and child welfare advocates have repeatedly cited the practice as a sign of serious problems in the child welfare system since it came to lightin 2017.
“We need to build capacity to make sure that we’re able to find stable placements with family or with licensed foster homes or in the right facility for every youth,” DCF Deputy Secretary Tanya Keys said during an interview. “So, one is too many.”
Kelly, a state senator before being elected governor last year, was a vocal critic of fiscal and social services policies under former Republican Govs. Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer. She said during her campaign last year that fixing the troubled child welfare system was a top priority and told The AP in February, “These kids are ultimately in my charge.”
“She is aware of the problem,” spokeswoman Ashely All said, adding that the governor receives frequent briefings on child welfare issues. “She is working with the (DCF) secretary to address it quickly.”
The department’s statistics showed that four children were kept overnight in the offices of its two foster care contractors, KVC Health Systems and St. Francis Ministries, in January and February. The figure jumped to 12 in March and 35 in April and was 16 for the first 11 days of May.
The department said no children were kept overnight in contractors’ offices in October, November and December 2018. Colyer, who became governor when Brownback resigned to take an U.S. ambassador’s post in January 2018, cited it as an accomplishmentfor his short administration as he left office.
DCF officials said children began staying overnight in offices again partly because bad winter weather made it less safe to move them. Keys said some children have behavioral problems that make it problematic to put them with other children, so that it’s harder to find homes for them. Others simply have been taken into state custody late in the day, she said.
Also, DCF officials said, the number has tended to spike during April and May, though they could not pinpoint why.
The return to having foster children stay overnight in offices received little public attention since Kelly became governor.
“It doesn’t matter if there’s a Republican in office or if there is a Democrat in office,” said state Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, a Republican from southeast Kansas who’s been monitoring child welfare statistics for weeks. “The kids are the kids. That doesn’t change, and that’s who we’re supposed to take care of.”
The number of foster children sleeping in offices this spring is less than the 85 in April 2018 and 69 in May 2018. The number dropped sharply after that, to four in July 2018.
“We are making progress, but we continue to work on long-term solutions,” All said, citing those numbers. “This continues to be a priority for the governor.”
The problem received fresh attention in September 2018, when the number rose to 14 and an 18-year-old man was criminally charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girlwho had stayed overnight in a contractor’s suburban Kansas City office months before. Kelly called the case a “nightmare.”
Colyer’s DCF secretary, Gina Meier-Hummel, announced plans in September 2018 to fine contractors if foster children slept overnight in their offices, just before the number fell to zero for three months.
“What’s cause the change is backing off the contractors being fined if they don’t address the issue,” said state Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Kansas City-area Republican, adding that having children sleep in offices again is “very troubling.”
DCF’s current spokesman, Mike Deines, said the agency is forgoing fines to concentrate on “the underlying cause.”
Keys said the department is working to recruit new foster parents to add to the state’s 2,000 or so licensed foster homes and to find relatives for children more quickly. The state had about 7,600 children in its foster care system in April — 46 percent more than 10 years ago.
“We don’t have any evidence that there were any fines levied,” Deines said.
The practice came to light during a September 2017 meeting of a task force created by the Legislature to investigate problems in the child welfare system. Kelly said at the time that it had probably been happening for some time and that she’d rather have children safe in caseworkers’ offices than “dumped off somewhere.”
“It will always be an issue if we don’t keep on top of it,” Hilderbrand said.
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