MANHATTAN — Firefighters responded to 711 Allison Avenue at 2:28 a.m. on Tuesday for a report of an apartment fire. Crews found a three-story apartment building with fire showing from a third-floor balcony. according to Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Almes.

The occupants of the building were notified by police and were able to exit the structure before firefighters arrived.

The fire reached a second alarm before it was contained.

The building is a three-story 12-unit apartment building. and the fire appears to have started on a third-floor balcony and the damage occurred mostly to the exterior and attic areas of the building.

Investigators determined the fire cause to be accidental. The fire is believed to have started due to improper disposal of smoking materials.
The loss is estimated at $30,000 to the structure and $2,000 to the contents. The owner is listed as Francis Properties, with the resident agent being listed as Patrick Lee of St. George.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — A Kansas man with 16 previous convictions is going back to prison.

On Monday, Sedgwick County Judge Stephen Ternes sentenced 37-year-old Samuel Haley to 41 months for the 2017 burglary of a home in Wichita, according to the district attorney’s office.

Haley with a long history of burglary and theft was found guilty of stealing $400,000 in guns and jewelry from the home. Investigators say he took antique jewelry, a Civil War-era revolver and other property.

A detective posed as a potential buyer and arrested Haley at a Wichita hotel. Court records say some of the jewelry was found in Haley’s backpack and more was in a storage facility.

Police returned most of the stolen items to their owners.

The judge also ordered Haley to pay $70,000 in restitution, according to the district attorney.

Haley has five previous convictions for burglary, six for theft, one for criminal damage, one for making a false writing, criminal possession of a firearm and for arson, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

TOPEKA — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting, have one suspect in custody and continue to search for a second suspect.

Just after 11 p.m. July 13, officers were dispatched to 1516 SW 16th Street in Topeka on a report of a shooting, according to Lt. Aaron Jones. Upon arrival, officers located a victim suffering from life-threating injuries. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injures.

Witnesses reported seeing a dark colored vehicle leaving the area northbound at a high rate of speed

On Sunday, police arrested Jihad Anwar Keys, 20 years old in connection to this investigation on requested charges of Aggravated Battery, Felon in Possession of Firearm, and  Aggravated Assault.

On Monday, 21-year-old Anthony Soto came to the Law Enforcement Center on his own accord. After speaking with investigators, he was later released. Investigators are still attempting to locate and speak with 19-year-old Larry D. Huggins.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A former University of Kansas football player has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he choked a woman and pointed a shotgun in her face.

Nineteen-year-old Kenny Evel Bastida waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault and aggravated battery and two misdemeanors, criminal damage to property and possession of marijuana.

A woman told university police that Bastida assaulted her May 15 at Stouffer Place Apartments on campus. She said he then loaded a shell into a shotgun and pointed at her face.

KU Athletics officials say Bastida, a linebacker from Pompano Beach, Florida, was no longer with the football team a month before the alleged attack but didn’t say why.

His trial is scheduled for Nov. 6.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Commerce has no written guidelines governing a fund designed to promote job creation and sometimes awards money to groups not clearly associated with economic development, according to a new audit.

The department oversees the Kansas Job Creation Fund, which receives about $3.5 million annually from state income tax payments. It has provided 71 awards totaling $25.6 million during the past five years.

An audit released Monday said the agency sometimes provides awards without requiring an application and requires some companies to produce measurable economic activity to receive funds but doesn’t have the same requirements for other companies.

The commerce secretary and governor control the program.

“This is why there’s a lack of trust in government right now. Because we have $25 million of taxpayer money that is in the hands of two people and it’s been that way for a long time,” said Sen. Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday that she had not seen the audit but that the state is reviewing all incentive programs.

“There just hasn’t been an evaluation process for each of them to make sure we’re getting our bang for our buck,” Kelly said. “And so the job creation fund is just one more we’ll take a good, close look at.”

The auditors reviewed five awards in detail, including a $90,000 award to the Renwick school district in Sedgwick County to create a Future Farmers of America chapter and agricultural education program and $80,000 for the Kansas Business Hall of Fame in Emporia, which used the funding as matching dollars to build the hall.

Other awards — such as $70,000 given in 2015 to New York-based Genesis Corporation, a technology firm, for construction costs and to help create 200 new jobs — appeared to more closely meet the goals of the fund.

In three of the five cases, the agency awarded money without requiring the organizations to produce jobs or other economic activity.

Auditors said decisions on awarding the funds are largely left to the expertise of Commerce Department staff because the agency doesn’t have a formula or written guidance to determine how much money to give a company.

Commerce Secretary David Toland, appointed by Kelly, said in a letter to auditors that all the projects that were reviewed complied with Kansas law. He said the fund helped create 12,916 jobs and retained 20,196 jobs between 2014 and 2018.

“This program helps attract new business to our state, retain and grow existing business and foster economic development. The program is structured to be flexible which allows us to meet the needs of the businesses we serve,” Toland said.

An agency official acknowledged Monday that some employees questioned the awards to Renwick schools and the Kansas Business Hall of Fame, which were awarded under previous secretaries.

“The reason I mention that is that they were done against the objection of multiple staff members who feel it did not meet the required provisions or intended goal of what JCF was for. They were carried out regardless,” David Soffer, public service executive at the agency, told lawmakers.