WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A computer software engineer accused of plotting cyberattacks on websites criticizing a Wichita attorney’s work has notified the court he plans to change his plea.
A docket notation on Wednesday in U.S. District Court says VIRAL Artificial Intelligence co-founder David Dorsett is set for a change-of-plea hearing on Oct. 21 in Wichita.
Dorsett and Wichita lawyer Bradley Pistotnik pleaded not guilty last year to federal charges of computer fraud and conspiracy. Pistotnik is also charged with making false statements to the FBI.
The indictment alleges that Pistotnik and Dorsett are responsible for cyberattacks on Leagle.com, Ripoffreport.com and JaburgWilk.com in 2014 and 2015. The indictment also accuses Dorsett of filling website inboxes with threats. Court records say one email demands that a webpage be removed or the hackers will target advertisers.
The unseasonably cold weather has forced the change of locations for two of Fort Hays State University’s Homecoming events.
Today’s pep rally scheduled for 7:30 p.m. is still on, but it has been moved indoors to Gross Memorial Coliseum. The march and the bonfire have been canceled.
Friday’s rededication program at the Plymouth Schoolhouse has been moved to Forsyth Library. The program will begin at 10 a.m., then will move to the Plymouth Schoolhouse for a reception as originally planned.
The schoolhouse, celebrating its 40th anniversary on the FHSU campus, will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.
Tonight’s pep rally will feature remarks from FHSU President Tisa Mason and Head Football Coach Chris Brown and introductions of Tiger athletes, the Homecoming royalty and the Alumni Award recipients. There will also be performances by the FHSU marching band, cheer squad and Tiger Debs dance squad.
The Local Food Truck will be set up near Gate 2 of GMC, serving burgers, brats, bierocks and drinks.
UPDATED, 4 p.m. Thursday: This corrects the day of the Plymouth Schoolhouse celebration, clarifies that the march also has been canceled.
ROELAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A former suburban Kansas City mayor has become the third Republican to kick off a campaign to challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids.
Adrienne Foster announced her campaign this week for the GOP nomination in the 3rd Congressional District. Foster served one term as the mayor of Roeland Park, a community of about 6,800, before becoming executive director of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission under Republican Govs. Brownback and Jeff Colyer.
During her tenure with the commission, she faced calls for her resignation over comments she made in support of then-candidate Donald Trump.
Also running in the Republican primary is Former National Down Syndrome Society CEO Sarah Hart Weir and Amanda Adkins, a Cerner Corp. executive with political ties to Brownback.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are urging witnesses to a Kansas bar shooting that left four dead and five wounded to come forward as the hunt continues for one of the suspects.
Hugo Villanueva-Morales photo KCK Policephotos courtesy KCK Police
Police continued searching Thursday for Hugo Villanueva-Morales, more than four days after gunfire erupted early Sunday at the Tequila KC bar in Kansas City, Kansas. Villanueva-Morales and 23-year-old Javier Alatorre are charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Alatorre was arrested hours after the shooting at a home in Kansas City, Missouri.
Officer Thomas Tomasic says officers don’t know whether Villanueva-Morales is in the area or has left. He says police are at a “slow point right now as far as information.” Police want to talk to any witnesses who were in the bar but left before officers arrived.
Brent Lee Emery, age 27, of Topeka passed away Thursday evening October 3, 2019 in Colby, KS. Brent was born August 14, 1992 the son of Gary and Terry Coulter Emery, Jr. Brent attended school at Shawnee Heights High School. He currently was working at Hi-Plains Coop in Gem, Kansas.
Brent is survived by his mother, Terry (David) Hause of Brewster, KS; his father, Gary Emery Jr. of Ellsworth; maternal grandmother, Dorothy Emery of Meriden; maternal grandmother, Sharon Bath of Gypsum, KS; two brothers, Aaron Rhoads of Topeka and Ryan Hause of Brewster, KS; three sisters, Lindsay Koch of Topeka, Taylor Rhoads of Topeka and Hanna Hause of Brewster, KS; aunts, Tracy (Matt) Nicolay and Amy Busey; uncles, Jason Bath and Scott Bath; nephew, Dayton Orester and two nieces, Layla and Maycee Orester; and cousins, Paige and Sloan Nicolay, Wyatt Flewelling, Courtney Coker and Derek Busey.
Memorial service will be Friday, October 11, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at the Davidson Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the Helping Hands Humane Society or the Brent Emery Memorial Fund to assist with funeral expenses.
Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.
Sleepless in Kansas? Maybe not, if you are a student at Emporia State.
ESU has contracted with a private company to install two sleeping pods. They are designed to be dark, quiet and clean. Pods must be reserved in advance, the areas are secure, private and monitored, and the pods are cleaned after each user.
Reaction on social media has been passionate and mixed. Most ESU students willing to venture an opinion are excited, but some alumni and community members remain unconvinced. Snarky comments abound, featuring the predictable accusation that today’s college students are coddled, along with the inevitable “back in my day…” reminiscences.
What are the hard facts about sleep deprivation in Kansas? We have good data, thanks to countyhealthreports.org, a website created in partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin. The site is a treasure trove of facts, organized by county for every U.S. state. We can compare Kansas counties to one another and to other states.
For me, a visit to countyhealthreports was a classic lesson in good social science. I visited the site with preconceived notions—ones which the data failed to confirm. When I think of sleep deprivation here, I immediately thing of harried young parents in places like Johnson County, stuck in traffic or racing the SUV through the drive-through lane for a triple-caf latte, trying desperately to stay awake in between the extra hours at work and prearranged playdates for the kids.
This is exactly why we need to test our preconceptions with real data. Despite my stereotypes, Johnson County has the lowest incidence of sleep deprivation in the state. In 2016, 25% of Johnson Countians reported normally getting less than seven hours of sleep per night, compared to 31% statewide. The state’s most sleep-deprived county is their neighbor—Wyandotte, home of Kansas City, Kansas, and a good deal less wealthy than Johnson County.
There is a pattern here. Counties with the combination of urban areas and high poverty have the most sleep deprivation. Still within the fringes of the KC area, Leavenworth and Atchison Counties rank second and third after Wyandotte for sleepiness, while Wichita’s Sedgwick County ranks fourth. To the east, St. Louis City ranks as the most sleep-deprived in Missouri, while Kansas City’s Jackson County is second.
To our west, Colorado’s mountains are famous for outdoor recreation, popular with migrants moving or vacationing there to experience it. Not surprisingly, the United Health Foundation ranked Colorado as America’s eighth healthiest state in 2018. Yet the pattern can be seen there, too. In Pueblo, the median income is a good deal lower than the state as a whole, and Pueblo County is the state’s most sleep-deprived. Growing suburban counties outside Denver and Colorado Springs tend to be the state’s least exhausted.
Sleep deprivation is a state and national epidemic, and it correlates with many of the deadliest ailments Americans suffer today. These include high blood pressure, stress, obesity, and reliance on toxic stimulants like nicotine—or worse—to stay awake. Stereotypes about the harried suburban soccer mom notwithstanding, the largest concentrations of Kansans suffering these effects are in lower-income, urban areas. Here at ESU, the new sleep pods will help those students who choose to use them, and also call attention to a serious, national health problem.
This is commendable, but as the hard data remind us, the ones hit hardest by our state’s sleep problems are the urban poor.
Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University.
BUTLER COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities had a long night and have ended their investigation and search for a man who allegedly had an assault rifle at a refinery in Butler County.
Law enforcement on the scene early Thursday in Butler County photo courtesy KWCH
Just after 10:30 p.m. deputies responded to the HollyFrontier refinery in 1400 Block of Douglas Road in El Dorado. A contractor at the refinery reported seeing three men on the property and one was carrying an assault rifle, according to Sheriff Kelly Herzet.
Deputies set up a perimeter and helped evacuate over 600 employees and contractors. The Butler County swat team with help from Harvey County assisted at the scene, according to Herzet. In the midst of the search for the alleged suspects, a thunderstorm rolled through and delayed the search.
Deputies didn’t see anyone and officials locked the refinery down tight, according to Herzet. After an interview with the reporting party authorities gave the all clear at 5 a.m. There were no injuries reported.
HollyFrontier owns and operates refineries located in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah and markets its refined products principally in the Southwest U.S., the Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest and in other neighboring Plains states, according to the company web site.
Facilitator Betty Johnson talks with Guy Windholz about an intergenerational facility.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
Designing a strategic plan for the future of Ellis County drew the biggest interest and group during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Strategic Doing Re-Start for Ellis County.
Volunteers gathered at the Rose Garden Banquet Hall in Hays to winnow down the number of project ideas for community improvements generated at a meeting last month.
As attendees enjoyed bierocks and green bean dumpling soup, facilitator Betty Johnson, Lawrence, polled the group for their top topics. Many of the people had been at the first meeting and others were there for the first time.
The voting yielded eight more areas of interest.
• More after-school activities for middle and high school students
• Decreased domestic violence and human trafficking
• Increased volunteerism in Ellis County
• Reaching out with help and understanding of mental health and anxiety
• More childcare providers
• Improved cultural diversity
• A multi-generational center
• Mentoring young entrepreneurs.
The nine groups spent more than two hours talking about what they could do. Discussions began with broad suggestions and then narrowed to specific action items with deadlines.
A spokesperson from each group explained the purpose of their project and the plan to move it forward.
The group working on a strategic plan for the future of Ellis County.
“Our next steps through April of 2020 is to create a visioning process,” said Henry Schwaller, referring to the Ellis County strategic plan. “It will begin with a large meeting to get as many (residents) to the table as possible to tell us what they want this community to look like over the next five years.”
A much smaller group of three people is working on providing fun hands-on STEM learning projects after school for students in sixth grade through high school.
Many students participate in sports after school, but there’s a gap in other activities, according to the group, and they want to help fill the void.
“We want to ask kids if they’d rather learn how to build a video game instead of just playing them,” said Alan Wamser. As the IT manager at HaysMed, Wamser has a vested interest in the project.
“If we can get a college intern with IT experience and bring them in, they’re the most successful,” he said.
Alan Wamser, Amanda Legleiter and Shae Veach coordinate the date for another group meeting within 30 days.
“And kids love to make YouTube videos and podcasts,” added group member Amanda Legleiter
The career exploration opportunities would involve teaching by local IT professionals as well as students and instructors at Fort Hays State University and NCK Tech.
“It could be similar to 4-H with the older kids or students teaching the younger ones,” Legleiter said.
“With mentoring, the kids may go on to FHSU to major in computer science or graphic design,” said the group’s spokesman, Shae Veach, HaysMed vice president of regional operations. “STEM activities can lead to scholarships, empower these students with confidence and possible local careers.”
The trio also tossed around ideas for funding and sustainability of the program as well as who will be stakeholders.
MacKinzie Foster outlines “Can We Just Talk?”
The group interested in mental health issues is working on “Can We Just Talk?,” bringing together people who are willing to listen and people who need to talk about their problems.
Kansas has had a record number of domestic-related homicides, according to Shaelin Sweet, community advocate for Options, who spoke for the group wanting to curtail domestic violence and human trafficking.
“That’s not a record we want to be breaking. The ultimate goal is for domestic homicides to go down and that will happen through education of law enforcement in the community,” she said.
Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler is a member of the group.
“I’m walking around this room and the focus in these groups is just amazing to me,” said Sandy Jacobs, HCF executive director. “We want to be all the resource to you we can. If you need help finding meeting sites, if you need help getting information out, anything you need just call our office.”
By 8:30 p.m. each table had talked through and filled out a Strategic Doing Action Pack from Purdue. The university’s Agile Strategy Lab offers training and certification in Strategic Doing.
According the to university’s website, Strategic Doing enables people to form action-oriented collaborations quickly, move them toward measurable outcomes, and make adjustments along the way.
Johnson is a certified facilitator in the Strategic Doing process.
“It’s been tried and proved. It’s used globally. We have used it in so many large, large operations as well as small,” she told the crowd. Johnson’s position is funded by the Hansen Foundation.
Erin Hughes, HCF assistant, looks at the plan from the mental health/anxiety awareness group with Jayne Inlow and Patrick McGinnis.
Erin Hughes was hired in June as a part-time assistant to Jacobs. Hughes will compile information completed by the groups. The results will be presented and project work updated at the next Strategic Doing meeting six months from now.
In the meantime, the nine groups are to meet every 30 days or so to review their progress.
Jacobs also encouraged the groups to invite other Ellis County residents to join their causes.
“If you know people that want to get involved after you begin talking about it in the community, for goodness sake, bring them into your group and get it started,” she urged.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating two robberies and have arrested a third suspect.
Ernesto Negrete photo Shawnee Co.
Just before 3:30p.m. August 28, officers responded to Panderia Monterrey Bakery on a report
of an aggravated robbery. Witnesses reported that a man entered the store armed
with a handgun and demanded money, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Koenen.
Just after 7:30p.m. the following day, officers responded to Ibannos Grill Food Truck on a report of
an aggravated robbery. Witnesses reported that two men entered the taco truck, armed with
handguns and demanded money.
On Tuesday 19-year-old Ernesto Negrete Jr. was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on the following charges: Aggravated Robbery x2, Theft x2, Aggravated Assault and Topeka Bench Warrants.
On October 2, police arrested 21-year-old Victor A. Arellano in connection to both cases and
booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on the requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Theft, Aggravated Assault, driving while suspended and failure to
yield to an emergency vehicle.
Police had earlier arrested Javier A. Martinez, 29, and booked him into the Shawnee
Department of Corrections in connection to the Ibannos Grill Food Truck investigation.
—————-
TOPEKA, Kan. – Law enforcement authorities are investigating two robberies and have made an arrest.
Arellano photo Shawnee Co.
Just before 3:30p.m. August 28, officers responded to Panderia Monterrey Bakery on a report
of an aggravated robbery. Witnesses reported that a man entered the store armed
with a handgun and demanded money, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Koenen.
Just after 7:30p.m. the following day, officers responded to Ibannos Grill Food Truck on a report of
an aggravated robbery. Witnesses reported that two men entered the taco truck, armed with
handguns and demanded money.
On Wednesday, police arrested 21-year-old Victor A. Arellano in connection to both cases and
booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on the requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Theft, Aggravated Assault, driving while suspended and failure to
yield to an emergency vehicle.
Police had earlier arrested Javier A. Martinez, 29, and booked him into the Shawnee
Department of Corrections in connection to the Ibannos Grill Food Truck investigation.
