SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement and school district authorities are investigating an alleged school threat.

On Tuesday night, USD 262 officials became aware of a social media post that appeared to show a photo of a group chat message, according to a memo to parents.

The message pictured contained a reference to a possible threat but did not actually contain threat, according to the memo.

Valley Center Law enforcement worked overnight to investigate the referenced, non-specific threat.

Additional law enforcement was in place at the school Wednesday. Additional precautions were also taken as part of the school district’s crisis plan.

Authorities have not reported an arrest or additional details.

SALINA —Plans are now underway for a $3.4 million expansion of the Salina Health Education Center, 138 N. Santa Fe Ave., which serves as the home for the Salina campuses of both the KU School of Medicine and KU School of Nursing.

According to a media release, when plans were originally developed to establish a new Salina medical campus for KU in 2016, the project was intended to house only the medical school. In 2017, the KU School of Nursing announced plans to also establish a program in Salina and both schools were able to share space in the Salina Health Education Center when the building opened in June 2018.

Enrolment for the nursing program was planned to increase over time. The first two classes of nurses in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years were capped at 12 students. This fall, the entering class expanded to 18 students. The entering class will again expand to 24 students for the 2020-2021 school year. Then, there will be 48 total third- and fourth-year nursing students on campus each year thereafter.

The KU-Salina nursing program offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing to admitted students who have completed their first two undergraduate years of education at a regionally accredited college or university.

“The additional space is designed to be shared by both schools and will continue to allow us to develop interprofessional education between medical and nursing students,” said Lisa Larson, Ph.D., R.N., dean of the KU School of Nursing-Salina campus. “The expansion is greatly needed to accommodate the expansion of nursing class sizes, which begin this fall.”

The expansion of the Salina Health Education Center will utilize 15,871 square feet of vacant office space already connected on the south side of the facility with frontage on Phillips Plaza in downtown Salina. The space was formerly used by the Salina Area United Way, State of Kansas Department of Corrections,
Copeland Insurance and a number of other businesses over the years.

The new space will offer a seamless interior connection to the rest of the Salina Health Education Center and provide dedicated offices for faculty and additional space for classrooms, testing and study areas, as well as clinical skills labs and conference rooms.

Don Marrs, DMA Architects, Salina, is currently completing the design-development phase of the project. Construction is expected to be completed by December 2020.

The Salina Regional Health Foundation and KU Endowment are partnering to raise funds for the project.

“Donors may support the expansion project by giving through KU Endowment or our Foundation,” said Tom Martin, Salina Regional Health Foundation executive director.

“This project supports the common good of the KU medical and nursing schools and their common missions to train doctors and nurses who will serve the future medical needs of rural Kansans,” said Joel Phelps, Salina Regional Health Center president and chief operating officer.

The University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina opened with its first class of eight students in 2011, establishing itself as the smallest four-year medical school in the United States. Five classes of doctors have graduated to date. For those graduates who have already completed their primary care residency training, more than half are practicing today in Kansas across several rural communities.

The University of Kansas School of Nursing-Salina graduated its first class of students this past spring. The graduates spent the summer completing boards and are now starting to attain employment.

The Salina Health Education Center is owned by the Salina Regional Health Foundation and was made possible through the $9.2 million Blueprint for Rural Health Campaign. The schools use the facility rent free.

“The growth and success of these programs certainly wouldn’t have happened without the dedication and support of Salina Regional Health Center, the Salina Regional Health Foundation, Dane G. Hansen Foundation, and so many others throughout the community and region,” said Bob Moser, M.D., dean
of the KU School of Medicine-Salina campus. “What has already been achieved with the establishment of these schools and student success has gone beyond what anyone could have hoped for.”

“This new expansion would not be possible without the vision and support from the Salina community,” said Robert D. Simari, M.D., executive vice chancellor for the University of Kansas Medical Center and executive dean of the KU School of Medicine. “Working together, we aim to provide health care professionals for rural Kansas and beyond.”

LYON COUNTY —A tractor-trailer hauling cattle overturned south of Emporia just after midnight Wednesday, killing two dozen of the animals.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says the driver TerryBailey, 56, Berryville, Arkansas, was transporting the cattle to Arkansas City to be slaughtered when he fell asleep and went off the side of Interstate 35.

Besides the 24 cattle that died when the rig overturned, 13 were pulled from the wreckage alive. Wallace says the surviving cattle are in a pen waiting to resume their journey.

EMS transported Bailey to a hospital with minor injuries.

The crash disrupted southbound traffic as crews worked to get the rig upright and repair damaged asphalt.

-The AP contributed to this report.

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The family of a slain Kansas inmate filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging a systemic disregard for the health and safety of prisoners housed at the Meade County jail.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court stems from the Aug. 29, 2017, death of Joshua DeVilbiss by another inmate. The prisoners had been transferred to the Meade County facility to alleviate overcrowding in the Sedgwick County jail.

The lawsuit filed against various officials in Sedgwick and Meade counties alleges DeVilbiss “not only experienced extensive pain and suffering, but he died a horrible and preventable death.”

A spokesman for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. But in a 2017 news release issued about the inmate death, the sheriff’s office said the 30-year-old Wichita man who died was being held on unspecified misdemeanor charges and had been in custody for almost a month. It also noted that Sedgwick County, at the time, had 43 inmates housed at the Meade County jail.

Meade County Sheriff Mark Miller said he had not seen the lawsuit, and did not immediately respond after The Associated Press emailed him a copy of the complaint.

Sedgwick County has long had a problem with overcrowding, said attorney Gerald Lee Cross, Jr., who’s representing the DeVilbiss family. He added that DeVilbiss was put into a prison population with other people who were facing violent charges, as well as inmates with mental health issues that were not being addressed.

“I anticipate that both counties are going to speak to the failure at the state and federal level to address mental health in the general prison population, but at the end of the day there are so many institutional failures here within both departments,” Cross said. “I think both systems are choosing process over people.”

The lawsuit said DeVilbiss was suffering from some undisclosed illness, urinating blood, when he was finally granted permission to transfer back to the Sedgwick County jail to get medical treatment. He was in pain from his medical condition, starving from being underfed and had been receiving threats to his life because he had to gamble for food, according to the suit.

But before he could be moved, an inmate identified as D’Anthony Andrews in the lawsuit learned of the impending transfer, became furious at a perceived lack of respect and threatened DeVilbiss.

The lawsuit alleges Andrews struck DeVilbiss from behind near a sleeping area, knocking him unconscious. After being unable to revive him, several inmates moved him to a shower area where his body was later found.

Andrews pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter in a plea agreement with prosecutors, according the court filing. He was treated for mental illness at the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility and later transferred to the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

Andrews is also named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit filed by DeVilbiss’ family.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors want a 17-year-old to face adult charges in a shooting that left an 18-year-old woman dead.

The teen suspect faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of Ashley Usher. She was found Saturday afternoon inside a house in Topeka suffering from a gunshot wound and died later at a hospital.

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay says he plans to ask a court to try the teen as an adult. He also faces charges of interference with law enforcement, theft of a firearm and criminal use of a weapon.