DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a child in Douglas County.

Just after 5:30p.m. Sunday, police responded to the 3300 block of Iowa Street in Lawrence after receiving a call that a 2-year old child identified as DéVonté Lashawn Turner  had been left unattended in a parked car, according to Police Chief Gregory Burns.

By the time officers and paramedics arrived, the boy had died.  It appears as though heat may have been a contributing factor in the toddler’s death, according to Burns. Temperature reached 88 degrees Sunday afternoon in Lawrence, according to the National Weather Service.

The child was not with parents but in the care of other family members at the time of the incident, according to Burns.  “We do not know the specific circumstances in this death and no arrests have been made,”  Burns said during a Monday news conference.

This should serve as a reminder to take extra care when exiting your vehicle especially this time of year when temperatures are high.  

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DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a child in Douglas County.

Just after 5:30p.m. Sunday, police responded to the 3300 block of Iowa Street in Lawrence after receiving a call that a 2-year old child had been left unattended in a parked car.

After arriving at the residence, officers and medical personnel determined that the child had died. Investigators have contacted the family. Authorities have released no additional details early Monday.

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug charges after a weekend arrest.

Just after noon Saturday, officers executed a search warrant at 1036 Van Buren Street in Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.

Officers discovered substantial quantities of controlled substances, including suspected schedule II pharmaceuticals, psilocybin mushrooms as well as large quantity of marijuana. Deputies also seized several firearms and several thousand dollars in US currency.

They also arrested at the scene  Matthew Tracy, 33 of Great Bend. 

He was booked on requested charges of possession with intent to distribute, criminal possession of a firearm, failure to pay drug tax stamp and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond was set at $50,000. He has since posted that bond and was released.

LABETTE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an officer involved shooting in Labette County.

Just after 12:20 a.m. on Monday, the Labette County Sheriff’s Office requested KBI assistance. Preliminary information indicates that just after 12:15a.m. Monday, officers from the Chetopa Police Department served a search warrant at 1110 Cherry Street in Chetopa, according to a media release.

They had received earlier information indicating there may be possible drug activity at the residence. Further investigation led them to obtain a search warrant for the property. After knocking and announcing their presence several times, three officers entered the home. They moved through the house in an attempt to safely determine if anyone was inside. As the first officer inside the house made his way down the hallway, he encountered an armed man, and fired three shots.

All officers quickly exited the house and took cover.

The Labette County Sheriff’s Office responded to help. Once they were outside the home, officers called for the occupants of the house to come out. Soon after, a 25-year-old woman exited. The woman reported that the only other person still inside the home was the man they previously encountered, and that he required medical attention.

Police again entered the home and found the man suffering from gunshot wounds. A rifle was discovered near him. EMS responded. The man, later identified as 38-year-old Scott Souders, was declared deceased at the scene by EMS.

Souders lived at the residence. No law enforcement officers were injured during the incident.

The KBI will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this incident. Once completed the findings will be turned over to the Labette County Attorney for review. This investigation is ongoing.  No further information will be released at this time.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a joint operation with federal, state, Wichita and other law enforcement officers resulted in nearly 1,000 arrests and took more than 80 guns and more than $835,000 in illegal narcotics off Wichita streets.

The effort, called “Operation Triple Beam,” came as Wichita police try to reduce a violent crime rate that has increased since 2014 to about three times the national average and triple the state average last year.

The police department said Monday the operation in June and July targeted violent offenders, many of whom were wanted on warrants.

Wichita last month was named part of the National Public Safety Partnership, a three-year program that uses federal resources and training to reduce violent crime in areas where it’s above national rates.

HUTCHINSON— The U.S. Postal Service and the Kansas State Fair have launched a stamp celebrating the nation’s state and county fairs.

The event included old-time carnival games and a petting zoo at the U.S. Postal Service Office in Wichita. Leading the event was Postmaster Ryan Knopik, according to a media release.

The four new Forever stamps feature whimsical artwork meant to evoke a sentimental feeling for America’s fairs, both past and present. The colorful stamps feature one scene across four stamps. They were designed to work together as a panorama of familiar, traditional fair activities, while each stamp also works as an individual picture.

The State and County Fairs stamps are being issued as Forever stamps, and will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.

“The Kansas State Fair is a place where we celebrate all things Kansas and the stamp really reflects that,” Amy Bickel, Kansas State Fair marketing director said. “If you look at it, it’s a nostalgic piece, and it shows people socializing and having fun and just coming together at the end of the summer.”

The Fair’s Educational Manager Jacki Eckert said the stamp aims to promote the social and educational value fairs offer.

“There are so many people who don’t have a touch with agriculture today,” Eckert said. “The Kansas State Fair and the Fair’s Kansas’ Largest Classroom is a way for fairgoers of all ages to learn more about agriculture, where their food comes from, as well as the products they use every day that are the result of production agriculture.”

The stamp comes in a set of four, costing $2.20.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Kansas City police say an 8-year-old boy died and his mother was seriously injured when someone shot dozens of bullets at their home.

Police say Brian Bartlett and his mother were asleep when they were shot late Saturday.

Brian and his mother were rushed to hospitals, where he was pronounced dead. His mother was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the leg.

No information about a motive or suspect has been released.

Brian is the youngest homicide victim in Kansas City this year. He is one of at least five people under the age of 16 killed this year in the city.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Monday that it is moving ahead with one of its most aggressive steps to restrict legal immigration, denying green cards to many immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers or other forms of public assistance.

Federal law already requires those seeking green cards and legal status to prove they will not be a burden to the U.S. — a “public charge” —but the new rules detail a broader range of programs that could disqualify them.

Much of President Donald Trump’s effort to crack down on illegal immigration has been in the spotlight, but this rule change targets people who entered the United States legally and are seeking permanent status. It’s part of a push to move the U.S. to a system that focuses on immigrants’ skills instead of emphasizing the reunification of families.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers will now weigh public assistance along with other factors such as education, household income and health to determine whether to grant legal status.

The rules will take effect in mid-October. They don’t apply to U.S. citizens, even if the U.S. citizen is related to an immigrant who is subject to them.

The acting director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, said the rule change fits with the Republican president’s message.

“We want to see people coming to this country who are self-sufficient,” Cuccinelli said. “That’s a core principle of the American dream. It’s deeply embedded in our history, and particularly our history related to legal immigration.”

Immigrants make up a small percentage of those who get public benefits. In fact, many are ineligible for public benefits because of their immigration status.

But advocates worry the rules will scare immigrants into not asking for help. And they are concerned the rules give too broad an authority to decide whether someone is likely to need public assistance at any time, giving immigration officials the ability to deny legal status to more people.

On average, 544,000 people apply annually for green cards, with about 382,000 falling into categories that would be subject to this review, according to the government.

Guidelines in use since 1999 referred to a public charge as someone primarily dependent on cash assistance, income maintenance or government support for long-term institutionalization.

Under the new rules, the Department of Homeland Security has redefined a public charge as someone who is “more likely than not” to receive public benefits for more than 12 months within a 36-month period. If someone has two benefits, that is counted as two months. And the definition has been broadened to include Medicaid, housing assistance and food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Following publication of the proposed rules last fall, Homeland Security received 266,000 public comments, more than triple the average number for a rule change at the agency, and it made a series of amendments to the final rules as a result.

For example, women who are pregnant and on Medicaid or who need public assistance will not be subject to the new rules during the pregnancy and for 60 days after the birth of the baby.

The Medicare Part D low-income subsidy won’t be considered a public benefit. And public benefits received by children up until age 21 won’t be considered. Nor will emergency medical assistance, school lunch programs, foster care or adoption, student loans and mortgages, food pantries, homeless shelters or disaster relief.

Cuccinelli said the comments resulted in changes that “we think it made a better, stronger rule.”

Green card hopefuls will be required to submit three years of federal tax returns in addition to a history of employment. And if immigrants have private health insurance that will weigh heavily in their favor.

Active U.S. military members are exempt. So are refugees or asylum seekers, and the rules would not be applied retroactively, officials said. But the Trump administration also has moved to drastically reduce asylum in the U.S.

The administration recently tried to effectively end the protections at the U.S.-Mexico border before the effort was blocked by a court. It has sent more than 30,000 asylum seekers mostly from Central America back to Mexico wait out their immigration cases.

According to an Associated Press analysis of census data, low-income immigrants who are not citizens use Medicaid, food aid, cash assistance and Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, at a lower rate than comparable low-income native-born adults.

In general, immigrants are a small portion of those receiving public benefits. For example, non-citizen immigrants make up only 6.5 percent of all those participating in Medicaid. More than 87 percent of participants are native-born. The same goes for food assistance: Immigrants make up only 8.8 percent of recipients, and more than 85 percent of participants are native-born.

The new public assistance threshold, taken together with higher requirements for education, work skills and health, will make it more difficult for immigrants to qualify for green cards, advocates say.

“Without a single change in the law by Congress, the Trump public charge rules mean many more U.S. citizens are being and will be denied the opportunity to live together in the U.S. with their spouses, children and parents,” said Ur Jaddou, a former Citizenship and Immigration Services chief counsel who’s now director of the DHS Watch run by an immigrant advocacy group. “These are not just small changes. They are big changes with enormous consequences for U.S. citizens.”

The new rules come at a time of increased criticism over Trump’s hardline policies and his rhetoric.

On Aug. 3, 22 people were killed and dozens were injured in a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, a border city that has become the face of the migration crisis. The shooting suspect told authorities he targeted Mexicans in the attack.

Critics contend Trump’s words have contributed to a combustible climate that has spawned death and violence, but Trump disagrees.