SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing, are asking the public to help identify a suspect and have released new video images.

Just after noon Monday, police responded to report of a stabbing in the 7400 Block of East 17th Street North in Wichita, according to officer Paul Cruz.

Investigators have learned that an unknown suspect approached a 28-year-old woman who was standing by her vehicle. The suspect stabbed her multiple times and walked away on 17th Street and left the area.
Officers located the victim at the scene. EMS transported her to a local hospital where she remains in serious condition, according to Cruz.

Police believe this is a random act and Thursday released new video images of the suspect described as a white male, 40’s, 5-foot-9 in height and thin build. He has red to blond colored short hair, with a short beard and dark colored camouflage pants. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON — Since July of last year, three public forums have been held in the area regarding the seismic activity that has rattled the Hutchinson area. That included one Thursday evening at the Hutchinson Public Library where a group of panelists answered questions ranging from the cause of the tumblers to the possible effect on property values.

The latest activity in August resulted in more than 40 earthquakes over a week with two measuring above four on the Richter scale. The quakes are thought to be from an increase in deep injection well activity from increased oil and gas production in Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Rick Miller with the Kansas Geological Survey says they do have a little better understanding of what is happening in the Hutchinson area.

“What we think is going on is a whole sequence of faults, like taking a sheet cake and just cutting it up into pieces, all of those slices in the cake are faults and you have a whole series of faults laying side by side,” Miller said. “The earthquake cluster is about three miles long east and west and about two miles wide north and south.”

Miller says the area is too small to generate an earthquake as strong as we have experienced, so a number of these faults are moving simultaneously in the area.

While the stronger earthquakes have caused some superficial damage, engineer Brent Engelland says it is not significant and is confined to older, taller buildings in the city. “There were a number of cosmetic cracks in commercial buildings around town,” Engelland said. “The only thing that would border on structural with the magnitude four that we had were buildings that were already in disrepair.”

As far as predicting earthquakes, several websites have boasted that they accurately predicted the August earthquakes. Miller took time to address that. “There is no current scientific accepted methodology for predicting earthquakes,” Miller said. “I can tell you, based on the number (of quakes) we’ve had, that it would not be unreasonable to predict a four. I can do that. Can I tell you what day? No. Can I tell you what month? No. Can I tell you what year? No.”

Citizens have been concerned with what will happen to property values and what people new to Hutchinson are saying about the earthquakes. Cindy Rehlander with the Reno County Appraiser’s Office says realtors are getting questions from potential homebuyers.

“We’re not seeing anybody in Reno County balking or not wanting to buy a new house or upgrade their home,” Rehlander said. “A couple of the realtors did mention that it is a little bit of a concern. Someone coming in from Colorado or somewhere will question what is going on with the earthquakes.”

Engelland and Rehlander said they don’t expect valuations of property to fall nor insurance rates to increase with the activity. Engelland says people are a little bit hypersensitive to the quakes, but that should decrease with time.

By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Presidential historian Jon Meacham, guest speaker at the 26th annual Missouri Western State University Convocation on Critical Issues in St. Joseph, says President Donald Trump’s phone conversation with the president of Ukraine raises serious questions.

“Highly unusual and almost certainly inappropriate,” Meacham tells reporters during a news conference prior to his speech. “The conversation, as I read the transcript, struck me as a very clear attempt to pressure the Ukrainian president to take part in American domestic politics.”

A whistleblower accuses the president of abusing his office, claiming the president attempted to solicit the aid of a foreign country against a political rival. It appears Trump in the summer telephone call attempted to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy into investigating whether then-Vice President Joe Biden interfered with a Ukrainian investigation involving his son, appearing to suggest the U.S. could withhold military aid requested by Ukraine.

A prosecutor investigating the energy company, Burisma, was dismissed in 2016. Hunter Biden served on the company board.

The White House released a transcript of the Trump conversation with Zelenskiy.

Meacham characterizes it as Trump putting pressure on the Ukrainian president to play a role in the 2020 presidential election.

“And I don’t think it is all that complicated. I think we’re going to see over the next x number of days and weeks and months attempts to normalize what is not normal,” according to Meacham.

Meacham joined with other historians on the book Impeachment: An American History, published last year. He sees similarities between Trump and the actions taken by President Richard Nixon during Watergate, asserting both presidents used the power of the office for explicit personal gain.

Meacham isn’t hesitant when asked whether Trump committed an impeachable offense.

“Gerald Ford said an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives decides at any particular moment it is. My view historically is yes,” Meacham replied.

“Yes?” a reporter asks to clarify.

“Yes, it’s an impeachable offense,” Meacham reiterates. “Now whether you want to remove him from office, I don’t know. But to answer your question quite directly, yes.”

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a drive by shooting.

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, police responded to a drive-by shooting call at a residence in the 2500 block of north Burns in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.  Upon arrival, officers observed bullet strikes to the home and shell casings.

A 34-year-old woman had transported her 15-year-old son to an area hospital who had been shot in his body for treatment of a non-life-threating injury.  Several other individuals were at the home at the time of the incident but were not injured.

Police have not reported an arrest.