BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after a weekend arrest.

Just after 3:30p.m. Saturday, a police officer stopped a subject at 16th and Holland in Great Bend for a traffic infraction, according to a media release.

The officer confirmed through Barton County Communications that the driver, 19-year-old suspect Brayden Powell-Rand, had warrants for his arrest.

During the traffic stop, Great Bend Police Department’s K-9 Menta was used and she indicated an odor of an illegal drugs coming from the vehicle.

Police searched Powell-Rand and the vehicle and located methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, according to police.

Powell-Rand was booked into Barton County jail with a $10,000 bond. He has a previous drug conviction in Barton County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Salina Post

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child sex allegations after an arrest.

Just after 4p.m. Friday, police were dispatched to the 800 block of Elmhurst in Salina for the report of a naked man running around the area, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

Police located the subject later identified as Michael J. Breit, 61, of Salina,  in the trees behind the Crossroads building of Central Kansas Mental Health Center,.

While investigating the incident, officers made contact with a 12-year-old boy who told them that Breit, who was naked at the time, made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature while the boy and his mother were in a nearby parking lot, according to Forrester. The boy’s mother witnessed the incident.

Police arrested Breit on suspicion of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child and lewd and lascivious behavior. Breit also allegedly smelled of alcohol, according to Forrester.

Hutch Post

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Fire crews continue monitoring  portions of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility after a Monday  gas line break.

According to Reno County 911, a work crew hit a gas line just before 9:30 a.m.

Evacuations at the facility ended quickly and fire officials were allowing reentry into buildings at the discretion of the prison.

The fire department is on standby at the prison while the area of the break was secured. No injuries have been reported.  There’s no word on who was evacuated during the incident or where on the prison grounds the break occurred.

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The fate of Missouri’s only abortion clinic is at stake starting Monday, when a member of the state’s Administrative Hearing Commission will begin hearing arguments over whether the clinic can keep its abortion license.

The hearing at a downtown St. Louis state office building is expected to last five days. Missouri officials have asked St. Louis police for heightened security since the licensing issue has generated protests from those on both sides of the debate.

Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi will preside over the hearing. A commission official said that in his role, Dandamudi “acts as an independent trial judge.” A ruling isn’t expected until February at the earliest.

Missouri would become the first state since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, without a functioning abortion clinic if the license revocation is allowed. The battle also comes as abortion rights supporters raise concerns that conservative-led states, including Missouri, are attempting to end abortion through tough new laws and tighter regulation.

Planned Parenthood has been battling the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for months to try to keep open its St. Louis clinic.

The state said concerns arose from inspections in March. Among the problems health department investigators cited were three “failed abortions” requiring additional surgeries and another that led to life-threatening complications for the mother.

The health department has sought to interview physicians involved in those abortions, including medical residents who no longer work there. Planned Parenthood has said it can’t force them to talk and that the state’s concerns were addressed long ago. Attorneys for the health department wrote in legal filings to the commission that physicians’ refusal to talk “presents the final, critical obstacle.”

Missouri is among several states to pass new restrictions on abortions in the hope that the increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade. Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation in May banning abortions at or beyond eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest.

A federal judge in August temporarily blocked implementation of the law until the legal challenge plays out in court, which could take several months.

While the Missouri case unfolded, Planned Parenthood quietly built a new abortion clinic in Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The 18,000-square-foot clinic in Fairview Heights, 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of St. Louis, opened Wednesday, in part to meet the demand for abortions from Missouri residents.

Missouri women have been increasingly getting abortions at the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, another St. Louis suburb. Deputy Director Alison Dreith said 58% of the abortions performed at the Hope Clinic through August of this year involved Missouri women, compared with 37% involving Illinois women.

Another abortion clinic sits in Overland Park, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb. The clinic is 2 miles from the state line. Information from the state of Kansas shows about 3,300 of the 7,000 abortions performed there last year involved Missouri residents.

SALINA — The interim CEO and dean of Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus has earned the job permanently.

Alysia Starkey, who has been serving as the interim leader of the campus in Salina since July 2018, has been appointed its new CEO and dean by Charles Taber, K-State provost and executive vice president, according to a media release from the school.

“In her service as interim CEO and dean, Dr. Starkey has proven to be a strong and effective leader of Kansas State Polytechnic,” Taber said. “Most notably, she has led the strategic planning on Polytechnic’s aviation program, building community and industry relationships that we will need to be successful.”

As the chief academic and administrative officer of Kansas State Polytechnic, Starkey is responsible for providing leadership, management and support for all academic programs and administrative units on the campus. She’s charged with ensuring high-quality undergraduate and graduate experiences, continued excellence and growth in Polytechnic’s research programs, and the recruitment and retention of high-caliber, diverse students. Effective fiscal stewardship and fundraising efforts on behalf of the campus are also key parts of her job responsibilities.

“Kansas State Polytechnic is a special place and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as CEO and dean,” Starkey said. “I am excited to continue working with students, faculty, staff and alumni to advance our mission and enhance our capabilities to meet the educational and workforce needs of the future.”

Before her appointment as interim CEO and dean, Starkey served as associate dean of academics at Kansas State Polytechnic. She has in-depth experience in the leadership, management and support needs of all aspects of the school, including student success, academic programs, faculty and budgetary matters. She joined Polytechnic in June 2002 as a technical services/automation coordinator and assistant professor. She was promoted to library director and associate professor in 2007, and named assistant dean of academics and distance education and director of libraries in 2010. She served as assistant dean of continuous improvement from 2012-2014 before being named associate dean of academics/undergraduate studies and promoted to full professor in 2014. She gained the additional duties of acting director for the School of Integrated Studies in June 2016. In October 2017, Starkey was named associate dean of academics and acting director of professional education and outreach.

Starkey earned a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Kansas State University; a master’s in library science from the University of North Texas; a bachelor’s in psychology from Fort Hays State University; and an associate degree in social work from Colby Community College.