MARYSVILLE – The Kansas Attorney General’s office has charged the former Marshall County Clerk with felony misuse of public funds, according to Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

The charges were filed against Sonya L. Stohs, 44, of Marysville, late Tuesday in Marshall County District Court, Attorney General Derek Schmidt said. The complaint alleges from May 2013 to April 2019, Stohs used funds belonging to Marshall County to pay for various personal items, in excess of $100,000. Stohs surrendered to law enforcement this morning at the Marshall County Jail and entered her first appearance this afternoon in Marshall County District Court.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service. Schmidt’s office is prosecuting the case at the request of the Marshall County Attorney.

All criminal charges are merely accusations. Individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

A link to the complaint may be found at https://bit.ly/2JMdP24.

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and have suspects in custody.

Just before 4a.m. Thursday, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received an alarm at the Shawnee North Family Aquatics Center at 300 NE 43^rd Street in Topeka, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.

Deputies arrived in the area and observed a vehicle leaving the Aquatics Center, conducted a traffic stop and four occupants were detained.

During the stop, deputys located stolen items in the vehicle from the Aquatics Center concessions stand and observed criminal damage to an Aquatics Center window.

Deputies arrested An Kastale L. Khun, 19, of Topeka, was arrested and taken to the Shawnee County Dept. of Corrections.  She was booked on charges of Burglary, Theft, and Criminal Damage to property, according to Stallbaumer. Three juvenile males were also taken to Juvenile Intake.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The lower Missouri River is likely to remain high throughout the summer because of the large amount of water being released from dams upstream.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it needs to keep the releases high to clear out space in all the dams along the river. So it will continue releasing more than double the average amount of water from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border at least into August.

National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Dergan says the Missouri River isn’t likely to go down much until the releases from the dams are reduced.

The significant releases may worsen flooding downstream — in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas — where many levees were damaged during severe March flooding.

ARKANSAS CITY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a July 13, shooting and asking the public for help to locate a suspect.

Just after 10p.m. Saturday, police  were dispatched to the 500 Block of North B Street in Arkansas City for a report of shots fired. When police arrived, they did not find anyone at the location, but numerous witnesses confirmed that a man had fired at least one shot toward a local residence.

The witnesses reported a man driving a blue Dodge pickup truck with two motorcycles in the back had driven into the front yard of the residence at 525 North B Street. He exited the truck and begun arguing with unknown persons at that location. After the gunshot, witnesses observed the truck leaving the area northbound on B Street.

Officers worked through the night to process the scene and attempt to locate the persons present at the time of the incident. One victim was found that night and two others the next day. Based on statements gathered from the three victims and video surveillance from a local business, officers applied for and received an arrest warrant for 43-year-old Stony Lee Graham through Cowley County District Court.

Graham of Arkansas City, is wanted on suspicion of three counts of felony aggravated assault in connection with the Saturday night incident the 500 block of North B Street. according to the Arkansas City Police Department. He is described as a 220-pound white male who is 6 feet, 1 inch tall.

On Tuesday afternoon, an officer spotted the Graham’s vehicle at the Agri-Business Building, 712 W. Washington Avenue in Arkansas City, according to police. Graham was not with the truck, which was seized as evidence. Investigators later obtained a search warrant for the vehicle in connection with the shooting.

Anyone with information that could help police to locate Graham is urged to contact the Arkansas City Police Department at (620) 441-4444.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. warship on Thursday destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it threatened the ship, President Donald Trump said. The incident marked a new escalation of tensions between the countries less than one month after Iran downed an American drone in the same waterway and Trump came close to retaliating with a military strike.

In remarks at the White House, Trump blamed Iran for a “provocative and hostile” action and said the U.S. responded in self-defense. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told reporters as he arrived for a meeting at the United Nations that “we have no information about losing a drone today.”

Trump said the Navy’s USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, took defensive action after the Iranian aircraft closed to within 1,000 yards of the ship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.

“The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities and interests and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran’s attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce,” Trump said.

The Pentagon said the incident happened at 10 a.m. local time Thursday in international waters while the Boxer was transiting the waterway to enter the Persian Gulf. The Boxer is among several U.S. Navy ships in the area, including the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been operating in the nearby North Arabian Sea for weeks.

“A fixed-wing unmanned aerial system approached Boxer and closed within a threatening range,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a written statement. “The ship took defensive action against the UAS to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew.”

The Iranians and Americans have had close encounters in the Strait of Hormuz in the past, and it’s not unprecedented for Iran to fly a drone near a U.S. warship.

In December, about 30 Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels trailed the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and its strike group through the strait as Associated Press journalists on board watched. One small vessel launched what appeared to be a commercial-grade drone to film the U.S. ships.

Other transits have seen the Iranians fire rockets away from American warships or test-fire their machine guns. The Guard’s small fast boats often cut in front of the massive carriers, running dangerously close to running into them in “swarm attacks.” The Guard boats are often armed with bomb-carrying drones and sea-to-sea and surface-to-sea missiles.

Thursday’s incident was the latest in a series of events that raised U.S.-Iran tensions since early May when Washington accused Tehran of threatening U.S. forces and interests in Iraq and in the Gulf. In response, the U.S. accelerated the deployment of the Lincoln and its strike group to the Arabian Sea and deployed four B-52 long-range bombers to the Gulf state of Qatar. It has since deployed additional Patriot air defense missile batteries in the Gulf region.

Shortly after Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone aircraft on June 20, Trump ordered a retaliatory military strike but called it off at the last moment, saying the risk of casualties was disproportionate to the downing by Iran, which did not cost any U.S. lives.

I want to apprise everyone of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz today, involving #USSBoxer, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship. The BOXER took defensive action against an Iranian drone…. pic.twitter.com/Zql6nAUGxF

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2019

Iran claimed the U.S. drone violated its airspace; the Pentagon denied this.

Zarif said Thursday that Iran and the U.S. were only “a few minutes away from a war” after Iran downed the American drone. He spoke to U.S.-based media on the sidelines of a visit to the United Nations.

Zarif also blamed Washington for the escalation of tensions.

“We live in a very dangerous environment,” he said. “The United States has pushed itself and the rest of the world into probably the brink of an abyss.” Zarif accused the Trump administration of “trying to starve our people” and “deplete our treasury” through economic sanctions.

Earlier Thursday, Iran said its Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign oil tanker and its crew of 12 for smuggling fuel out of the country, and hours later released video showing the vessel to be a United Arab Emirates-based ship that had vanished in Iranian waters over the weekend.

The announcement cleared up the fate of the missing ship but raised a host of other questions and heightened worries about the free flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical petroleum shipping routes. One-fifth of global crude exports passes through the strait.

___

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says a U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

Trump says it’s the latest “hostile” action by Iran. He’s calling on other countries to condemn what he says are Iran’s attempts to disrupt the freedom of navigation and global commerce in the strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf region.

President Trump Participates in a Flag Presentation Ceremony https://t.co/DYgkDCdO3x

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 18, 2019

Trump says the USS Boxer took defensive action after the drone closed to within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.

The president says the drone threatened the safety of the American ship and its crew.

Iran recently shot down a U.S. drone that it said was flying over Iran. Trump called off a planned retaliatory airstrike at the last minute.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigated a report of shots fired late Wednesday and early Thursday in the in the Redbud Estates manufactured home community in Riley County.

Just before 9:10 p.m., the Riley County Emergency Dispatch Center began receiving several calls reporting shots fired in the 2500 block of Farm Bureau Road.

When officers arrived on scene, they attempted to make contact with a 35-year-old male inside a residence where the shots were reportedly coming from.

As a precaution, people in the area were advised to shelter in place or evacuate depending on their proximity to the home.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigated a report of shots fired late Wednesday and early Thursday in the 2500 block of Farm Bureau Road in the Redbud Estates manufactured home community in Riley County.

The Riley County Police Department asked the public to stay away from the area while they investigated and later reported they took no actual enforcement activity

The RCPD released no additional information early Thursday morning. Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

TOPEKA — Kansas schools will require two new vaccines come August, including one against a virus that’s hospitalized 13,000 people and killed 200 across the country since 2016.

The new rules, which apply to public and private schools, will be phased in over the next several years. But come August, schools will check that:

• Kindergartners and first-graders have gotten hepatitis A vaccine.
• Seventh-graders have had their first dose of a MenACWY, a vaccine against four types of meningococcal bacteria.
• 11th-graders get a dose of MenACWY, too (even students who received a first dose when they were younger will need a booster dose).

Kansas allows exemptions for medical and religious reasons, but not philosophical reasons.

Nationally, 25 states have seen more than 20,000 cases of hepatitis A in widespread outbreaks since 2016.

The liver infection often spreads through contamination in water, raw or undercooked foods or through sex.

Kansas hasn’t seen any recent cases, though its neighbors have. More than 300 in Missouri and nearly 100 in Colorado have gotten sick.

Read about the known side effects of specific vaccines here. No evidence links vaccines to autism, a myth that got its start with a debunked academic article.  Read Autism Speaks’ FAQ page on what does and doesn’t cause autism here.

Most people shake off hepatitis A in a matter of weeks, the federal Centers for Disease Control say. But others fight the illness for months, suffering from things like diarrhea, fatigue, vomiting, fever, jaundice and stomach pain.

Last month, the federal panel of health experts that sets vaccine guidelines recommended children and teens who missed the hepatitis A shots as toddlers get them now. In Kansas, federal data suggest more than 85% of children receive it as toddlers, in part because it was already required for day care.

Fewer Kansans get the MenACWY vaccine. Meningococcal bacteria cause, among other things, meningitis.

Outbreaks are rare but nearly a third of patients die, lose limbs or sustain long-term brain damage.

People living in close quarters, such as college dorms, are at higher risk of contracting meningococcal disease.

 Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health and education for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @Celia_LJ or email her at celia (at) kcur (dot) org.